The Panorpodidae are a small family of scorpionflies. Of the two genera, ''

Brachypanorpa ''Brachypanorpa'' is a genus of scorpionflies in the family 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, wi ...

'' occurs only in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

, and ''

Panorpodes ''Panorpodes'' is a genus of scorpionflies in the family Panorpodidae, containing the following species:Zhong, W., Zhang, J.-X., & Hua, B.-Z. (2011). "''Panorpodes kuandianensis'', a new species of short-faced scorpionflies (Mecoptera, Panorpodid ...

'' occurs in East Asia, with a single species in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

. Unlike their sister group

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 me ...

, the family generally has short jaws, amongst the shortest of all mecopterans. ''Brachypanorpa'' is thought to be phytophagous, consuming the

epidermis The epidermis is the outermost of the three layers that comprise the skin, the inner layers being the dermis and Subcutaneous tissue, hypodermis. The epidermis layer provides a barrier to infection from environmental pathogens and regulates the ...

of soft leaves, and a similar diet is suggested for ''Panorpodes''.

Genera

The family contains extant 13 species in two genera: * ''

'' Carpenter, 1931 (five species: United States) * ''

'' MacLachlan, 1875 (eight species: Japan, Korea, California) Fossil species known from

Eocene The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes from the Ancient Greek (''ēṓs'', " ...

aged

Baltic amber The Baltic region is home to the largest known deposit of amber, called Baltic amber or succinite. It was produced sometime during the Eocene epoch, but exactly when is controversial. It has been estimated that these forests created more than 1 ...

In addition, the following fossil genus is also known: * †'' Austropanorpodes'' Petrulevicius 2009

Laguna del Hunco Formation The Laguna del Hunco Formation or Laguna del Hunco Tuff ( es, Formación Laguna del Hunco, Tufolitas Laguna del Hunco) is a localized Early Eocene (Itaboraian in the SALMA classification) fossiliferous geological formation of the Cañadón Asfalto ...

, Argentina, Eocene (

Ypresian In the geologic timescale the Ypresian is the oldest age or lowest stratigraphic stage of the Eocene. It spans the time between , is preceded by the Thanetian Age (part of the Paleocene) and is followed by the Eocene Lutetian Age. The Ypresian i ...

)

References

Mecoptera Insect families {{Mecoptera-stub