Hangingfly

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A slender, long-legged insect of the family Bittacidae that dangles from vegetation by its legs while snatching smaller insects
2. A delicate predatory insect in the family Bittacidae, known for hanging from twigs and leaves as it hunts other arthropods
3. Any member of the Bittacidae family, a slender insect that suspends itself from plants by its legs to seize passing prey

Etymology: A hangingfly is a insect of the order Mecoptera, the scorpionflies, and it gets its name from a habit that is easy to picture: it hangs from plants by its legs while it waits for prey. The name is a plain compound of "hanging" and "fly", the two words joined together with no further twist, and it has a close counterpart in Dutch, "hangvlieg", built from the same pieces. The insect's own behaviour is what the name records. Rather than chasing food on the wing, the hangingfly dangles beneath a leaf or twig and grips it with its long front legs, so the description is literal rather than metaphorical. Compounds like this one, where English describes a creature by what it does, are common among insect names.