Hangingfly

Hangingfly
Hylobittacus apicalis, Michigan, USA
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Mecoptera
Infraorder: Raptipeda
Family: Bittacidae
Handlirsch, 1906
Genera

see text

Diversity
16 genera, ca. 170 species
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The Bittacidae are a family of scorpionflies commonly called Hangingflies or hanging scorpionflies.

The genus Bittacus, comprising approximately 75% of all species within the family, occurs worldwide. Other genera are mostly confined to South America or Australia. Members of this family may be confused with crane flies, in the order Diptera, but can be distinguished by their two pairs of wings and lack of halteres.

Genera

This list is based on The World Checklist of extant Mecoptera Species.[1] Presumably complete up to 1997, it is updated as needed. The number of species in each genus are in parentheses. A number of extinct(†) genera have been described from the fossil record.

References

  1. Bittacidae
  2. 2.0 2.1 Li, Y-L.; Ren, D.; Shih, C-K (2008). "Two Middle Jurassic hanging-flies (Insecta: Mecoptera: Bittacidae) from Northeast China" (PDF). Zootaxa 1929: 38–46. ISSN 1175-5334.
  3. Wang Y, Labandeira CC, Shih C, Ding Q, Wang C, Zhao Y, Ren D (2012). "Jurassic mimicry between a hangingfly and a ginkgo from China". Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 109 (50): 20514–20519. doi:10.1073/pnas.1205517109. PMID 23184994.
  4. Petrulevicius, J. F.; Huang, D-Y.; Ren, D. (2007). "A new hangingfly (Insecta: Mecoptera: Bittacidae) from the Middle Jurassic of Inner Mongolia, China" (PDF). African Invertebrates 48 (1): 145–152.