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Scorpionflies
Mecoptera (from the Greek language, Greek: ''mecos'' = "long", ''ptera'' = "wings") is an Order (biology), order of insects in the superorder Endopterygota with about six hundred species in nine Family (biology), 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 Rostrum (anatomy), 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 ... [...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] |
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] |
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] |
Pseudopolycentropodidae
Pseudopolycentropodidae is an extinct family of scorpionflies known from the Mesozoic. Fossils are known from the Middle Triassic (Anisian) 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 and acting as pollinators for now extinct insect pollinated gymnosperms such as Bennettitales. Systematics * †'' Dualula'' Lin et al. 2019 **†''Dualula kachinensis'' Lin et al. 2019 Burmese amber, Cenomanian * †'' Parapolycentropus'' Grimaldi and Rasnitsyn 2005 Burmese amber, Cenomanian **†''Parapolycentropus burmiticus'' Grimaldi and Rasnitsyn 2005 **†''Parapolycentropus paraburmiticus'' Grimaldi and Rasnitsyn 2005 * †'' Pseudopolycentropodes'' Grimaldi and Fraser 2005 **†''Pseudopolycentropodes virginicus'' Grimaldi and Fraser 2005 Cow Branch Formation, Virginia, Norian * †'' Pseudopolycentropus'' Handlirs ... [...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] |
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] |
Englathaumatidae
''Englathauma'' is an extinct genus of scorpionfly. It is the only member of the family Englathaumatidae. It is known from two species, ''E. crabbi'', and ''E. mellisha.'' Both species are known from the Weald Clay of the United Kingdom, dating to the Barremian The Barremian is an age in the geologic timescale (or a chronostratigraphic stage) between 129.4 ± 1.5 Ma (million years ago) and 121.4 ± 1.0 Ma). It is a subdivision of the Early Cretaceous Epoch (or Lower Cretaceous Series). It is precede ... stage of the Early Cretaceous. The family had been a '' nomen nudum'' since the death of the lead author of the paper Victor G. Novokshonov, in 2003, until the paper was published in 2016. The well sclerotized wings suggest that they were used as cover to protect the body rather than for flight, similar to the living '' Notiothauma.'' References {{Taxonbar, from=Q104858540 Prehistoric insect genera Mecoptera ... [...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] |
Mesopsychidae
Mesopsychidae is an extinct family of scorpionflies known from the Late Permian to Mid Cretaceous. 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 and acting as pollinators for now extinct insect pollinated gymnosperms such as Bennettitales. Systematics *'' Afristella'' Riek 1974 Molteno Formation, South Africa, Carnian *'' Allochorista'' Hong 2007 Tongchuan Formation, China, Ladinian *'' Baissopsyche'' Novokshonov and Sukacheva 2001 Sharin-Gol Formation, Mongolia, Barremian, Zaza Formation, Russia, Aptian *'' Epicharmesopsyche'' Shih et al. 2013 Daohugou, China, Callovian *'' Ferghanopsyche'' Martynov 1937 Sulyukta Formation, Kyrgyzstan, Toarcian *'' Lichnomesopsyche'' Ren et al. 2009 Daohugou, China, Callovian *'' Mesopanorpodes'' Ren et al. 2009 Vokhma Formation, Russia, Changhsingian, Ashfield Shale, Australia, Anisian, Tongchuan Formation, China, Ladin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Panorpa Communis
''Panorpa communis'', the common scorpionfly, is a species of Mecoptera, scorpionfly. Distribution This species is native to Europe (mostly) and Northern Asia. Habitat These scorpionflies can be usually found in hedgerows and patches of Urtica dioica, nettle. Description ''Panorpa communis'' can reach a body length of about . The common scorpionfly has a black and yellow body, with a reddish head and tail. The male has a pair of claspers at the end of its tail (for holding the female during mating), giving it a scorpion-like appearance, although it is not a stinger. The adult insect has a wingspan of about , with wings that are mostly clear, but have many dark spots or patches. Its head, mounted with large eyes, is drawn into a prominent, downward pointing beak, which opens at the tip of its head. In the female, the eighth abdominal segment is the shortest, almost twice shorter than the seventh; the sixth is narrowed towards the back. The larva resembles a caterpillar and ... [...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] |
Dinopanorpidae
Dinopanorpidae is a small family of extinct insects in the order Mecoptera (scorpionflies) that contains two genus, genera and seven species. The name is a combination of the Greek language, Greek ''deino'' meaning "terrible" or "monstrous" and "Panorpidae", the family to which ''Dinopanorpa'' (the type genus of this family) was first assigned. The family was first described in 1972 by entomology, paleoentomologist Frank M. Carpenter, Dr. Frank Carpenter to encompass the genus ''Dinopanorpa'' described by Theodore Dru Alison Cockerell, Dr. Theodore D.A. Cockerell in 1924. As with all members of order Mecoptera, dinopanorpids possess an elongated Rostrum (anatomy), rostrum and four elongated wings of nearly equal size, and uniquely a "R1" vein which almost reaches the apex of the wing. The elongated "R1" vein is a character not found in any other extant or extinct mecopterans. Range The distribution of Dinopanorpidae is restricted both in time and in location. An undescribed sp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
