SEEN ANY INTERESTING INSECTS LATELY?
We were supposed to be looking for new born fawns on a
recent meeting held in South Weald. But insects were
certainly the more abundant in the woods we were searching.
One of the more striking and interesting insects to be
found in any damp Essex wood with plenty of undergrowth is
the scorpion fly — Panorpa communis. This fascinating
insect was particularly common, this Sunday in mid June.
It is almost 2cm. long with large wings having numerous
chocolate brown markings on them. (See illustration on
page 16). These wings almost cover the body when at rest,
but the head with its two long antennae is easily seen.
But the most striking feature of all is that which gives
rise to its name. Protruding upwards between the wings of
the male fly is the greatly expanded tip of the abdomen,
which is markedly reminiscent of the sting of a scorpion.
Females are similar in all respects but for the tip of the
abdomen which is tapering. They are, of course, completely
harmless.
Scorpion flies prefer to rest on the broader leaves of
the plants and shrubs of the forest, but may also be found
on nettles where they are dense enough to provide plenty
of shade. They are easily disturbed, but do not fly far
and are thus quite easy to catch. In the hand they can be
seen to have four rather similar wings, this distinguishing
them from the true flies which only have two. The head is
rather small, but the mouth parts are drawn out into a long
beak or rostrum which hangs down below the head. They are
said to be carnivorous, but I have never seen them do
anything but fly lazily from one shaded leaf to another.
Eggs are laid in crevices in the soil and the carnivorous
larvae develop there,
Another carnivorous insect that was particularly common
was an asilid fly, a true fly this time of the Order Diptera,
The asilids are a group of fairly conspicuous flies which
can attain over 2.5 cm. in length in one species. But the
species common at South Weald was a smaller one — Dioctria
rufipes. This is not so easy to recognise first time. It
Page 2