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Mecoptera
Mecoptera (from the Greek: ''mecos'' = "long", ''ptera'' = "wings") is an order of insects in the superorder Endopterygota with about six hundred species in nine families worldwide. Mecopterans are sometimes called scorpionflies after their largest family, Panorpidae, in which the males have enlarged genitals raised over the body that look similar to the stingers of scorpions, and long beaklike rostra. The Bittacidae, or hangingflies, are another prominent family and are known for their elaborate mating rituals, in which females choose mates based on the quality of gift prey offered to them by the males. A smaller group is the snow scorpionflies, family Boreidae, adults of which are sometimes seen walking on snowfields. In contrast, the majority of species in the order inhabit moist environments in tropical locations. The Mecoptera are closely related to the Siphonaptera (fleas), and a little more distantly to the Diptera (true flies). They are somewhat fly-like in appearance, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boreidae
Boreidae, commonly called snow scorpionflies, or in the British Isles, snow fleas (no relation to the snow flea ''Hypogastrura nivicola'') are a very small family of scorpionflies, containing only around 30 species, all of which are boreal or high-altitude species in the Northern Hemisphere. These insects are small (typically 6 mm or less), with the wings reduced to bristles or absent, and they are somewhat compressed, so in fact some resemblance to fleas is noted. They are most commonly active during the winter months, towards the transition into spring, and the larvae and adults typically feed on mosses. The adults will often disperse between breeding areas by walking across the open snow, thus the common name. The males use their bristle-like wings to help grasp the female over their back while mating, while the wings of females are vestigial small oval pads with no ability to allow them to fly. The adults have a long rostrum formed from the clypeus and labrum, genae, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Siphonaptera
Flea, the common name for the order Siphonaptera, includes 2,500 species of small flightless insects that live as external parasites of mammals and birds. Fleas live by ingesting the blood of their hosts. Adult fleas grow to about long, are usually brown, and have bodies that are "flattened" sideways or narrow, enabling them to move through their hosts' fur or feathers. They lack wings; their hind legs are extremely well adapted for jumping. Their claws keep them from being dislodged, and their mouthparts are adapted for piercing skin and sucking blood. They can leap 50 times their body length, a feat second only to jumps made by another group of insects, the superfamily of froghoppers. Flea larvae are worm-like, with no limbs; they have chewing mouthparts and feed on organic debris left on their hosts' skin. Genetic evidence indicates that fleas are a specialised lineage of parasitic scorpionflies (Mecoptera) ''sensu lato'', most closely related to the family Nannochoristi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eomeropidae
Eomeropidae is a family of aberrant, flattened scorpionflies represented today by only a single living species, ''Notiothauma reedi'', known from the ''Nothofagus'' forests in southern Chile, while all other recognized genera in the family are known only as fossils, with the earliest definitive fossil known from Liassic-aged strata, and the youngest from Paleogene-aged strata.Archibald, S. Bruce, Alexandr P. Rasnitsyn, and Mikhail A. Akhmetiev. "Ecology and distribution of Cenozoic Eomeropidae (Mecoptera), and a new species of ''Eomerope'' Cockerell from the Early Eocene McAbee locality, British Columbia, Canada." Annals of the Entomological Society of America 98.4 (2005): 503-514. Genera There are six extinct genera and one monotypic living genus which have been placed in Eomeropidae. * †'' Eomerope''. Cockerell 1909 This genus is known from Paleogene fossils from Eocene and Oligocene strata of North America, including the Allenby Formation and the Florissant Formation, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nannochoristidae
Nannochoristidae is a family of scorpionflies with many unusual traits. It is a tiny, relict family with a single extant genus, '' Nannochorista'', with eight species occurring in New Zealand, southeastern Australia, Tasmania, Argentina and Chile. Due to the groups distinctiveness from other scorpionflies, it is sometimes placed in its own order, the Nannomecoptera. Some studies have placed them as the closest living relatives of fleas. Most mecopteran larvae are eruciform, or shaped like caterpillars. Nannochoristid larvae, however, are elateriform, and have elongated and slender bodies. The larvae are aquatic, which is unique among mecopterans. The larvae are predatory, hunting on the beds of shallow streams, primarily on the larvae of aquatic Diptera like chironomids. Fossils indicate that Nannochoristidae formerly had a wider distribution, being present in the Northern Hemisphere during the Jurassic and Early Cretaceous. Some research suggests the nannochoristids are the onl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Meropeidae
Meropeidae is a family of tiny scorpionflies within the order Mecoptera with only three living species, commonly referred to as "earwigflies" (or sometimes "forcepflies"). These include the North American '' Merope tuber'', the Western Australian '' Austromerope poultoni'', and the recently discovered South American '' A. brasiliensis''. The biology of these species is essentially unknown, and their larvae have never been seen. The disjunct distribution suggests a common origin before the breakup of the ancient supercontinent of Pangaea. There are two undisputed extinct genera, '' Boreomerope antiqua'' known from an isolated wing found in the Middle Jurassic Itat Formation of Siberia and '' Burmomerope'' with three species from the mid Cretaceous (Cenomanian) aged Burmese amber. As such, the extant members of this family can be considered living fossils. These insects are also of interest due to their presumed basal position in the order Mecoptera. '' Thaumatomerope'' with four d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Panorpidae
The Panorpidae are a family of scorpionflies containing more than 480 species. The family is the largest family in Mecoptera, covering approximately 70% species of the order. Species range between 9–25 mm long. These insects have four membranous wings and threadlike antennae. Their elongated faces terminate with mouthparts that are used to feed on dead and dying insects, nectar, and rotting fruit. While in larval form, they scavenge by consuming dead insects on the ground. Genera *'' Aulops'' Enderlein, 1910 (two species) *'' Cerapanorpa'' Gao, Ma & Hua, 2016 (22 species) *'' Dicerapanorpa'' Zhong & Hua, 2013 (eight species) *'' Furcatopanorpa'' Ma & Hua, 2011 (one species) *'' Leptopanorpa'' MacLachlan, 1875 (12 species) *'' Neopanorpa'' Weele, 1909 (ca. 170 species) *''Panorpa'' Linnaeus, 1758 (ca. 260 species) *'' Sinopanorpa'' Cai & Hua in Cai, Huang & Hua, 2008 (three species) Extinct genera * †'' Baltipanorpa'' Krzemiński & Soszyńska-Maj, 2012 Baltic amber, E ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Panorpodidae
The Panorpodidae are a small family of scorpionflies. Of the two genera, '' Brachypanorpa'' occurs only in the United States, and '' Panorpodes'' occurs in East Asia, with a single species in California. Unlike their sister group Panorpidae, the family generally has short jaws, amongst the shortest of all mecopterans. ''Brachypanorpa'' is thought to be phytophagous, consuming the epidermis of soft leaves, and a similar diet is suggested for ''Panorpodes''. Genera The family contains extant 13 species in two genera: * '' Brachypanorpa'' Carpenter, 1931 (five species: United States) * '' Panorpodes'' MacLachlan, 1875 (eight species: Japan, Korea, California) Fossil species known from Eocene aged Baltic amber In addition, the following fossil genus is also known: * †'' Austropanorpodes'' Petrulevicius 2009 Laguna del Hunco Formation, Argentina, Eocene (Ypresian In the geologic timescale the Ypresian is the oldest age (geology), age or lowest stage (stratigraphy), stratigraph ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Austropanorpidae
''Austropanorpa'' is an extinct genus of scorpionfly. It is the only member of the family Austropanorpidae. The type species, ''A. australis'' was described by Edgar Riek in 1952 based on two incomplete forewings from the Redbank Plains Formation of Queensland, of probable Eocene age, and was assigned to Panorpidae. Later, it was recognised as distinctive enough to be assigned to its own monotypic family by Rainer Willman in 1977. In 2018 the species "''Orthophlebia''" ''martynovae'' from the Early Jurassic (Toarcian) aged Cheremkhovo Formation near Lake Baikal in Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ..., described by Irina Sukacheva in 1985, was recognised as belonging to the genus. The genus is distinguished from other mecopterans by having nine branched radial ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orthophlebiidae
Orthophlebiidae is an extinct family of scorpionflies known from the Triassic to Cretaceous, belonging to the superfamily Panorpoidea. The family is poorly defined and is probably paraphyletic, representing many primitive members of Panorpoidea with most species only known from isolated wings, and has such been considered a wastebasket taxon. Systematics Based on The genus '' Protorthophlebia'' has been moved to the separate family Protorthophlebiidae. * †'' Burmorthophlebia'' Soszyńska-Maj, Krzemiński and Wang, 2022, Burmese amber, Myanmar, Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian) * †'' Choristopanorpa'' Riek 1950 Hawkesbury Sandstone, Australia, Middle Triassic (Anisian), Magyden Formation, Kyrgyzstan, Late Triassic (Carnian), Koonwarra Fossil Bed, Australia, Early Cretaceous (Aptian) * †'' Cretacochorista'' Jell and Duncan 1986 Koonwarra Fossil Bed, Australia, Aptian * †'' Mesopanorpa'' Handlirsch 1906 ** †''Mesopanorpa angarensis'' Martynov 1927 Cheremkhovskaya Formatio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apteropanorpidae
Apteropanorpidae is a family of wingless scorpionflies containing a single genus, ''Apteropanorpa'', with four named species. These species, also called Tasmanian snow scorpionflies, are found in moss in Tasmania and southern Australia. The adults are generalised predators. The larvae live in moss and are locally common. ''Apteropanorpa'' is probably an austral ecological counterpart of the Northern Hemisphere Boreidae, adapting to colder climates by losing its wings and feeding on the abundant understory mosses. Both groups have been collected on snow and at high elevations. However, these two groups are probably not sister groups, as males of ''Apteropanorpa'' have developed the bulbous, recurved abdomen found in advanced families, such as Panorpidae. The best-known species, ''Apteropanorpa tasmanica'', is known to carry two species of parasitic mites.Seeman, O.D., Palmer, C.M. 2011: Parasitism of ''Apteropanorpa tasmanica'' Carpenter (Mecoptera: Apteropanorpidae) by larval ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Choristidae
The Choristidae are a small (only eight species in three genera) family of scorpionflies known only from Australia. Their larvae are found in moss Mosses are small, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic division Bryophyta (, ) '' sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryophytes, which comprise liverworts, mosses, and hor ... mats. Species :This list is adapted from the ''World Checklist of extant Mecoptera speciesChoristidae' and is complete as of 1997. * '' Chorista'' Klug, 1838 ** '' Chorista australis'' Klug, 1838 ** '' Chorista luteola'' (Westwood, 1846) * '' Meridiochorista'' Lambkin, 1996 ** '' Meridiochorista insolita'' (Riek, 1973) ** '' Meridiochorista ruficeps'' (Newman, 1850) * '' Taeniochorista'' Esben-Petersen, 1914 ** '' Taeniochorista bifurcata'' Riek, 1973 ** '' Taeniochorista nigrita'' Riek, 1973 ** '' Taeniochorista pallida'' Esben-Petersen, 1914 ** '' Taeniochorista similis'' Riek, 1973 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aneuretopsychidae
Aneuretopsychidae is an extinct family of scorpionflies known from the Mesozoic. Fossils are known from the Jurassic (Callovian- Oxfordian) to the early Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian). It is part of Mesopsychoidea, a group of scorpionflies with siphonate proboscis. They are suggested to have been nectarivores, feeding off the liquid pollination drops of and acting as pollinators for now extinct insect pollinated gymnosperms such as Bennettitales. Systematics Diagnostic characters include the "presence of pseudo-loop in the anal area of the forewing, and the well-developed jugum of the hind wing" It has been proposed that the family are the sister group to fleas, however a detailed analysis of the mouthparts of well preserved amber specimens found that they were homologous to those found in the Pseudopolycentropodidae and dissimilar to those of fleas. *'' Aneuretopsyche'' Rasnitsyn and Kozlov 1990 **''A. minima'' Rasnitsyn and Kozlov 1990 Karabastau Formation, Kazakhstan, Callovi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
