Meropeidae
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The Meropeidae are a tiny family of the order Mecoptera with only two species.
The earwigfly, Merope tuber, is the only species in the family in North America. It occurs throughout the east from Ontario to Georgia, and west to Kansas. This insect's most distiguishing feature is the enormous segmented claspers on the male abdomen. The function of these is not known, but they may be used during courtship. Much is unknown about the adults, which are secretive, sometimes found under logs or in malaise traps near streams. There is a region of interlocking sclerites that holds the jugum and scutellum on the middle thoracic segment together. This may be used to keep the wings together when pushing up through dirt. A similar apparatus is found in cicadas and ground dwelling beetles, so it may be that the winged adults dig in soil.
The Australian member of the family is Austromerope. The apterous females are occasionally caught in pitfall traps in the open desert around Perth. Much about the biology of these insects is not known, due to their secretiveness and rarity.
These insects are also of interest due to their basal position in the order Mecoptera. The larvae of all insects in the family Meropeidae are unknown.
[edit] Species
- Austromerope poultoni Killington, 1933 (Australia)
- Merope tuber Newman, 1838 (USA, Canada)
[edit] References
- Faithfull, M. J., J. D. Majer, and A. C. Postle (1985). "Some notes on the occurrence and seasonality of Austromerope poultoni (Mecoptera) in western Australia". Australian Entomological Magazine 12: 57-60.
- Hlavac, T.F. (1974). "Merope tuber (Mecoptera): A wing-body interlocking mechanism". Psyche 81: 303.
