| German Scorpionfly (Panorpa germanica (Linnaeus, 1758)) |
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Scientific name: Panorpa germanica (Linnaeus, 1758) Common name: German Scorpionfly French name: Panorpe germanique Order: Mecoptera Family: Panorpidae Wingspan : 20-30 mm. Biotope: Bushes , damp woodlands, parks and gardens. The German Scorpion Fly prefers damp and shaded places. Geographic area: Widespread in Europe. Observation period : May to August. |
Scorpion flies have a beak-like head extension. The male's abdomen bears the gonopodium which looks like a scorpion's tail. The body is black and yellow. The wings are lengthy with dark spots and blotches. The larvae, which look like caterpillars, live under the ground. The German Scorpion flies and the larvae feed on dead insects and sometimes on fruits. There are several similar species which are rather difficult to tell apart. This is slightly easier with males based on the shape of the sixth abdominal segment (with a side view), on the shape of the hypovalves on the bulbous appendage and on the wing veins. You can only give indications with females based on the wing patches. Males of the Panorpa communis, Panorpa germanica, Panorpa vulgaris and Panorpa alpina species have a conical-shaped sixth abdominal segment. Males of the Panorpa cognata, Panorpa meridionalis and Panorpa etrusca do not show a conical-shaped sixth abdominal segment. It is almost rectangular and even with the upper part of the segment tip slightly curved upwards. In the communis group, Panorpa alpina, with the wings only showing a few very small patches, can be identified by the sub-costal vein joining the costal vein far before the pterostigma. Panorpa germanica has short and wide hypovalves (they are long and thin on the other members of the communis group). Furthermore Panorpa germanica has very few patches on the wings and does not show any pterostigma stripe completely crossing the fore wing. You need to look at the patches on the wings to tell Panorpa communis and Panorpa vulgaris apart. Panorpa communis has not many patches and the basal patch is missing or reduced so that it is totally included between two veins. Panorpa vulgaris has larger patches on the wings with a rather wide basal patch extending on several cells. In France, in the cognata group, Panorpa meridionalis is only found in the south-western region and Panorpa etrusca is limited to the extreme south-east corner. So, in may regions, a simple side view of a rectangular sixth abdominal segment of a male is enough to tell Panorpa cognata apart. There are many patches on the wings and there is a marginal patch before the pterostigma. |
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We have a female here, so it's very difficult to identify the species. We can only give an indication based on the wing spots, knowing that there is great variability within each species. The wings are sparsely spotted, and there is no pterostigma stripe crossing the wings. So I think we have wing markings here that could point towards Panorpa germanica. |
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Side view. |
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I need to stop photographing females and focus on males. Again, the wing spots point to Panorpa germanica, but this is only an indication without certainty. |
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Side view. |
André Bon May 2025