They look like something out of a Sci-Fi B movie but Scorpionflies are totally a real-life thing. But the truth about them is actually scarier than their menacing look.
Basically, these guys are just flies with giant genitalia.
Their enlarged abdomen and male genitalia take on the appearance of a scorpion’s tail and stinger, which is why they are called scorpionflies, according to Orkin.
They also go by the name Mecoptera, according to Wikipedia. Their terrifying look is accented by their double set of wings and jacked hind legs which they use to catch prey.
They fly slow and unsteady. But don’t worry! As horrifying as these creatures are, they aren’t known to harm humans. Their mating rituals and eating habits are just as weird as their monstrous phallic bodies.
Females choose their partners based on what their suitor present to them as gifts.
To scorpionflies, presents equal prey and dead things.
Males will present females with dead bugs to eat while they procreate. So a sex snack. Sometimes they’ll secrete excess salvia for their female-male to enjoy. Ewwwwww. Could these things get any grosser? They also will often do the deed on human remains. Yup, they have sex on dead bodies.However, they seldom breed in big groups and prefer to live in single mated pairs. How gross and romantic!
They are the first creatures that are usually found on a freshly dead human body. They’ve even been used by police to figure out the age of murder victims, according to Swifty.
Scorpionflies are also known as hanging flies because they like to hang around suspended from a plant branch in an effort to blend into their surroundings.
This allows them to easily pounce on unsuspecting smaller insects that they will eat. Their larvae are known to sometimes be predatory, but others will eat moist, decomposing organic matter that includes carrion. Hence, their love of dead human bodies.
At least their larvae don’t look as threatening as they do in adult form. During pupation, scorpionflies will bury themselves into the loose dirt until they emerge as an adult fly. So like a really scary butterfly, except ugly and dirty.
Thankfully, you don’t have to worry about these guys too much. They aren’t known to infest indoor spaces and are usually seen as adults in the outdoors. Sometimes they are spotted near vegetation.
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