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Scorpionfly - Panorpa sp.
Order Mecoptera
-- hangingflies, scorpion flies, scorpionflies, snowflies / Family
Panorpidae -- common scorpionflies / Genus Panorpa Linnaeus, 1758
The name Mecoptera, derived from the Greek words "meco" meaning long and
"ptera" meaning wings, refers to the shape of both the front and hind wings.
Live male and female
scorpionflies photographed at Winfield Mounds Forest Preserve, DuPage County,
Illinois, USA. |
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Male scorpionfly, Panorpa sp. |
The Mecoptera (scorpionflies) are a curious
group of terrestrial insects that usually live in
moist sylvan habitats. Both larvae and adults are
omnivorous. Mostly, they feed upon decaying
vegetation and dead (or dying) insects. Larvae
generally remain in the soil; they have chewing
mouthparts and resemble caterpillars (Lepidoptera)
or white grubs (Coleoptera). Most adults have an
elongated head with slender, chewing mouthparts near
the tip of a stout beak. Front and hind wings are
similar in shape (occasionally reduced in size or
absent), and often mottled with patches of color.
The common name of this order (scorpionfly) refers
to the distinctive appearance of male genitalia in
members of the family Panorpidae: the terminal
segments are enlarged and held recurved over the
abdomen like the tail of a scorpion. Despite its
appearance, the scorpionfly's tail is quite
harmless.
Hanging scorpionflies, family Bittacidae, are
predators of small flying insects. Their legs,
especially the tarsi, are unusually long and
slender. At the tip of each leg there is a single
opposable claw. The adults hang from vegetation with
their front legs and catch small flying insects with
their middle and hind legs. These scorpionflies,
which bear a striking resemblance to crane flies
(Diptera: Tipulidae), may have developed from the
same ancestral lineage that also give rise to the
caddisflies (order Trichoptera) and the true flies
(order Diptera). Hanging flies are the only
predatory insects that catch prey with their back
legs.
(1)
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Species of
Panorpa
are orange-bodied with an elongate beak, and their wings are mottled with dark
brown markings. Males have a bulbous terminal genital capsule. Both
soil-inhabiting larvae and adults feed upon dead insects. I was perplexed when I
first ran across this specimen. I'd never seen anything like it before. At
first, I thought it a fly, but then noticed two sets of wings (true flies only
have one set). |
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