Giant African Click Beetle vs Tsetse Fly

Side-by-side species comparison

Attribute Giant African Click Beetle Tsetse Fly
Scientific Name Tetralobus flabellicornis Glossina morsitans
Order Coleoptera Diptera
Family Elateridae Glossinidae
Size 40-60 mm 8-17 mm
Habitat Grasslands Grasslands
Diet Root Feeders Blood Feeders
Regions East Africa, Southern Africa Africa
Conservation Least Concern Least Concern

Giant African Click Beetle

Africa's largest click beetle, with impressive fan-shaped antennae in males. It can launch itself into the air with an audible click when placed on its back.

💡

Did You Know?

It can catapult itself up to 30 cm into the air using a spring-loaded peg on its thorax.

Tsetse Fly

Vector of African sleeping sickness (trypanosomiasis). Unlike most flies, females give live birth to a single large larva. Both sexes are obligate blood-feeders.

💡

Did You Know?

The tsetse fly is unique among insects — it gives birth to live young. The female nourishes a single larva internally with a milk-like substance, similar to mammalian lactation.