The Scorpion Fly (Panorpa Sp.) A brief introduction

PeterD-2009PeterD-2009 Registered Users Posts: 618 Major grins
edited May 22, 2010 in Holy Macro
It is now warming up and insect life in the UK is now well into its stride this year and to celebrate this I am posting a VERY brief introduction to the Scorpion Fly (Panorpa sp.).

Despite the horrific name attached to these insects, they mainly eat dead animal matter or fruit. The common name is derived from the visual effect of the tip of the male abdomen curving up onto the top abdomen - scorpion like but without the stingsmile.gif.

874169487_UJmVw-L.jpg

The female has a much more conventional abdomen.

874167547_XiZiB-L.jpg

The Scorpion fly prefers shady areas. It is not a True Fly (Order Diptera) but is a separate order Mecoptera as it has four wings and not two. The real distinguishing feature of species in this order is the downward extension of the head to form a strong beak.

874165599_ymFQ7-L.jpg

The spotting on the wings varies between species with some not having any spots at all. It is very difficult to separate species and therefore I have only been able to identify these by their family name. There are about 400 known species world-wide with about 30 in Europe. The specimens photographed here are about 10mm long (body).

873540282_CGRDN-L.jpg

Comments always welcome and thanks for viewing.
Cheers

Peter

http://www.imageinuk.com

Comments

  • Lord VetinariLord Vetinari Registered Users Posts: 15,901 Major grins
    edited May 22, 2010
    LOvely series of shots - they are one of the weirder looking bugs in the UK :)
    Brian V.
    Brian V.
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/lordv/
    http://www.lordv.smugmug.com/
  • PeterD-2009PeterD-2009 Registered Users Posts: 618 Major grins
    edited May 22, 2010
    Lord Vetinari wrote: »
    LOvely series of shots - they are one of the weirder looking bugs in the UK :)
    Brian V.

    Thank you Brian for your kind comments. They are striking insects and that is why I thought it worth posting these.
    Cheers

    Peter

    http://www.imageinuk.com
  • Bell RingerBell Ringer Registered Users Posts: 51 Big grins
    edited May 22, 2010
    These are great shots. I like close-up work. Can you tell me what lens you used to get these?
    Rudynikon
  • PeterD-2009PeterD-2009 Registered Users Posts: 618 Major grins
    edited May 22, 2010
    Bell Ringer wrote: »
    These are great shots. I like close-up work. Can you tell me what lens you used to get these?

    Thank you for your comments.

    The equipment I used is as follows:
    Olympus E3 camera body
    Sigma 150 DG Macro lens
    Zuiko 1.4x Converter
    Metz Ring Flash (operated as TTL remote triggered by signal from camera flash) NB Camera flash shielded to prevent its light illuminating the subject.

    I tend to shoot macros in the C-AF mode as they are all hand-held shots and this helps to enure that the dof for close shots is maintained.

    Hope this helps
    Cheers

    Peter

    http://www.imageinuk.com
  • clicketf3clicketf3 Registered Users Posts: 216 Major grins
    edited May 22, 2010
    You sure do find some unique ones.
  • PeterD-2009PeterD-2009 Registered Users Posts: 618 Major grins
    edited May 22, 2010
    clicketf3 wrote: »
    You sure do find some unique ones.
    Thanks for your comment. The macro world is so full of surprises. You can only really appreciate it from images.
    Cheers

    Peter

    http://www.imageinuk.com
  • dlplumerdlplumer Registered Users Posts: 8,081 Major grins
    edited May 22, 2010
    Great set, especially #1 clap.gif
    Dan
    http://danielplumer.com/
    Facebook Fan Page
  • PeterD-2009PeterD-2009 Registered Users Posts: 618 Major grins
    edited May 22, 2010
    dlplumer wrote: »
    Great set, especially #1 clap.gif
    Thank you Dan, I am glad you liked them.
    Cheers

    Peter

    http://www.imageinuk.com
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