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Mecoptera (from the Greek: mecos = "long", ptera = "wings") is an order of insects in the superorder Holometabola 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 raised over the body that look similar to the stingers of scorpions, and long beaklike
These insects are small (typically 6 mm or less), with the wings reduced to bristles or absent, and they are somewhat compressed, so in fact some resemblance to fleas is noted. They are most commonly active during the winter months, towards the transition into spring, and the larvae and adults typically feed on mosses.
They eat dead insects (although they sometimes eat live aphids), sometimes taking them from spider webs [6] and plant sap. [10] Although fully winged, the adults rarely fly very far and spend much of their time crawling on vegetation in damp, shaded places near water and along hedgerows. Panorpa communis is a univoltine species. [6]
True to their name, males have an oval-shaped genital bulb, resembling that of a scorpion's stinger. [7] [8] In these slender, small insects the back part of the head (occiput) is reddish, while in all other species it is usually black. [9] Wings are membranous with black markings. The abdomen is black and yellow striped with an orange extremity.
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. [1]
Panorpa is a genus of scorpion-flies that is widely dispersed, especially in the Northern Hemisphere. However, they do not occur in western North America. Thirteen species occur in eastern Canada. [3] About 260 species are described as of 2018. Larvae and adults feed on carrion. [4]
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. They are distinguished in the fact that during mating the male captures a prey insect and offers it to the female as a nuptial ...
The word scorpion originated in Middle English between 1175 and 1225 AD from Old French scorpion, [1] or from Italian scorpione, both derived from the Latin scorpio, equivalent to scorpius, [2] which is the romanization of the Greek σκορπίος – skorpíos, [3] with no native IE etymology (cfr.