Scorpion fly (Panorpa germanica)

The scorpion fly is working here on some sort of webbing. I don't know if he is nursing his eggs or that he is pouching eggs from some other insect.

This is a male scorpion fly, the female doe not have the scorpion like tail. While mating the females drink nutritious saliva from the males. The males have developed enlarged salivary glands so they can mate longer. The mating can be seen on the 'paarung' vide in the video section.
This saliva drinking behavior earned the scorpion fly the #4 place in the 'Times Top 10 weird mating rituals'.

In Dutch: Gewone schorpioenvlieg

comments (7)

Ferdy Christant

Lion

Very interesting specie, promoted! Posted 13 years ago
1. Joost Thissen
  
  Lion
  
  But I think the quality is bad... Posted 13 years ago
2. 1. Ludo Sak
    
    Lion
    
    Hi Joost. ,shot one of those too a little time ago. Difficult to capture, mine was non too high in quality too:) Interesting it remains though!
    
    Posted 13 years ago
  2. Ferdy Christant
    
    Lion
    
    I don't fully agree. Just some small focus problems, only visible in fullscreen mode. The composition, colors, exposure are all good. And technical quality isn't the only aspect to consider :) Posted 13 years ago

EAmer

Lion

Very nice !! Posted 13 years ago

Pudding4brains

Lion

Hi Joost,

This is germanica - I'll change the ID :o) (and create the species first :o) Posted 8 years ago, modified 8 years ago

Pudding4brains

Lion

As for the discussion in the description: Scorpionflies are scavengers, usually feeding on dead insects, often stealing leftovers from spider webs etc. The males will try to find a nice big chunk of dead insect-goo to offer to a female before mating as a "nuptial gift" Posted 8 years ago