Scorpionflies

Mecoptera Temporal range: Early Permian - Recent PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N
Panorpa communis, male
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Class:	Insecta
(unranked):	Antliophora
Order:	Mecoptera Hyatt & Arms, 1891
Families
†Aneuretopsychidae Apteropanorpidae †Australochoristidae Bittacidae (hangingflies) Boreidae (snow scorpionflies) Choristidae †Choristopsychidae †Cimbrophlebiidae †Dinopanorpidae †Permochoristidae †Englathaumatidae Eomeropidae Meropeidae (earwigflies) †Mesopsychidae Nannochoristidae †Nedubroviidae Panorpidae (common scorpionflies) Panorpodidae (short-faced scorpionflies) †Permochoristidae †Pseudopolycentropodidae

Mecoptera (from the Greek: mecos = "long", ptera = "wings") are 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 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, being small to medium-sized insects with long slender bodies and narrow membranous wings. Most breed in moist environments such as leaf litter or moss, and the eggs may not hatch until the wet season arrives. The larvae are caterpillar-like and mostly feed on vegetable matter, and the non-feeding pupae may pass through a diapause until favourable weather conditions occur.

Early Mecoptera may have played an important role in pollinating extinct species of gymnosperm before the evolution of other insect pollinators such as the bees. Adults of modern species are overwhelmingly predators or consumers of dead organisms; they are the first insects to arrive at a cadaver, making them useful in forensic entomology.

Mecopterans vary in length from 2 to 35 mm (0.1 to 1.4 in). There are about six hundred known extant species, divided into thirty-four genera in nine families. The majority of the species are contained in the Panorpidae and Bittacidae families. Besides this there are about four hundred known fossil species in about eighty-seven genera, which are more diverse than the living members of the order. The group is sometimes called the scorpionflies, from the turned-up "tail" of the male's genitalia in the Panorpidae.

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Wikipedia