Mecoptera
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| Mecoptera Fossil range: Permian - Recent |
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 Panorpa meridionalis, from Portugal
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Mecoptera (from the Greek: meco- = "long", ptera- = "wings") are an order of insects with about 550 species in nine families worldwide. Mecoptera are sometimes called scorpionflies after their largest non-flea family, Panorpidae, in which the males have enlarged genitals that look similar to the stinger of a scorpion. The Bittacidae, or hangingflies, are a prominent family of elongate insects known for their elaborate mating rituals, in which females choose mates based on the quality of gift prey offered by various males.
Recent DNA evidence[citation needed] indicates that fleas, which are traditionally considered an order as well (Order Siphonaptera), are instead highly specialized Mecoptera. Grouped together with the fleas, Mecoptera would have about 3000 species.
Mecoptera have a special importance in evolution of Insecta. Two of the most important insect orders, Lepidoptera and Diptera, along with Trichoptera, evolved from ancestors belonging to or strictly related to Mecoptera.
 Panorpa meridionalis, from Portugal |
 Bittacidae species from Australia |
 Panorpa communis female with prey |
 Panorpa communis male |
 Detail of head |
 Dinokanaga andersoni Forewing |
[edit] References
- Grimaldi, D. and Engel, M.S. (2005). Evolution of the Insects. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-82149-5.
- Whiting, M. F. (2002). "Mecoptera is paraphyletic: multiple genes and phylogeny of Mecoptera and Siphonaptera". Zoologica Scripta 31 (1): 93. doi:.
- Archibald, S.B. (2005). "New Dinopanorpida (Insecta: Mecoptera) from the Eocene Okanogan Highlands (British Columbia, Canada and Washington State, USA)". Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 4 (2): 119-136.
