 | | Male Panorpidae |
Mecoptera
Mecoptera, sometimes called scorpionflies, belong to the Neoptera. There are approximately 600 species worldwide, 10 of which can be found in Europe.
Mecoptera can reach a body length of 3.5 to 20 mm with a wing span of 20 to 40 mm. They have 2 pairs of wings which are almost identical. In some species the wings are much smaller and in others the larger pair of wings is missing. A notable characteristic of the adult insect is the elongation of the mouth parts; this has earned it the name Schnabelfliege in German (Schnabel = beak ; Fliege = fly).
The larvae look like caterpillars, but have real legs on the chest and abdomen segments. A fork placed on the last abdomen segment also serves the movement of the larvae.
Some examples of Mecoptera are: snow scorpionflies, hangingflies and species of the the Panorpidae. |
Synonyms
| Panorpida (Kristensen, 1981) |
| German | Schnabelfliegen,
Schnabelhafte | | English | Hanging flies,
Hangingflies,
Scorpion flies,
Scorpionflies,
snow scorpionflies,
Snowflies | | Dutch | Schorpioenvliegachtigen,
Schorpioenvliegen | | Danish | Skorpionfluer,
Skorpionsfluer | | Swedish | | Näbbsländor | | Finnish | | Kärsäkorennot | | Norwegian | | Skorpionfluer |
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