Scorpion fly (Panorpa communis)
Introduction
The photograph on this page of Scorpion fly (Panorpa communis) by Keith Edkins as part of the Geograph project.
The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.
There are currently over 7.5m images from over 14,400 individuals and you can help contribute to the project by visiting https://www.geograph.org.uk
Scorpion fly (Panorpa communis)
Image: © Keith Edkins Taken: 27 May 2008
Scorpion flies (Mecoptera) are a small insect order with about 550 species worldwide. Modern thinking is that they are closely related to fleas, and fairly closely to the true flies (Diptera). The name Scorpion flies refers to the swollen rear abdomen of the males in many species such as seen here, vaguely reminiscent of the sting of a scorpion but quite innocuous. This was one of several seen during a day's conservation work on the Barnwell East Local Nature Reserve.
Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0
Image Location
Latitude
52.201998
Longitude
0.163521