| Choristidae | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Chorista australis | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Mecoptera |
| Family: | Choristidae Esben-Petersen, 1915 |
| Genera | |
The Choristidae are a small (only eight species in three genera) family of scorpionflies known only from Australia. Their larvae are found in moss mats.
The antlions are a group of about 2,000 species of insect in the neuropteran family Myrmeleontidae. They are known for the predatory habits of their larvae, which mostly dig pits to trap passing ants or other prey. In North America, the larvae are sometimes referred to as doodlebugs because of the marks they leave in the sand. The adult insects are less well known due to their relatively short lifespans compared to the larvae. Adults, sometimes known as antlion lacewings, mostly fly at dusk or just after dark and may be mistakenly identified as dragonflies or damselflies.
Mecoptera is an order of insects in the superorder Endopterygota 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 rostra. The Bittacidae, or hangingflies, are another prominent family and are known for their elaborate mating rituals, in which females choose mates based on the quality of gift prey offered to them by the males. A smaller group is the snow scorpionflies, family Boreidae, adults of which are sometimes seen walking on snowfields. In contrast, the majority of species in the order inhabit moist environments in tropical locations.
Ensifera is a suborder of insects that includes the various types of crickets and their allies including: true crickets, camel crickets, bush crickets or katydids, grigs, weta and Cooloola monsters. This and the suborder Caelifera make up the order Orthoptera. Ensifera is believed to be a more ancient group than Caelifera, with its origins in the Carboniferous period, the split having occurred at the end of the Permian period. Unlike the Caelifera, the Ensifera contain numerous members that are partially carnivorous, feeding on other insects, as well as plants.
Bittacidae is a family of scorpionflies commonly called hangingflies or hanging scorpionflies.
Permotanyderus is an extinct genus of protodipteran insect of the Permotanyderidae family, first described by Edgar F. Riek in Australia in 1953 and which contains a single species P. ableptus.
Choristotanyderus is an extinct, monotypic genus of protodipteran insect containing a single species, Choristotanyderus nanus which lived during the Permian period. The genus and species were first described by Edgar Frederick Riek in 1953 from a specimen found in New South Wales, Australia. It is considered a transitional form between Mecoptera and Diptera. The genus is placed in the protodipteran family Permotanyderidae with the related genus Permotanyderus.
Neopanorpa is a paraphyletic genus of around 170 species of scorpionfly in Southeast Asia, nesting the genus Leptopanorpa.
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.
Alderflies are megalopteran insects of the family Sialidae. They are closely related to the dobsonflies and fishflies as well as to the prehistoric Euchauliodidae. All living alderflies – about 66 species all together – are part of the subfamily Sialinae, which contains between one and seven extant genera according to different scientists' views.
Mesochorista proavita is an extinct species of scorpionfly from the Triassic period of Queensland, Australia.
Bittacus is a genus of hangingflies in the order Mecoptera. Members of the genus have a cosmopolitan distribution. The genus has existed since at least the earliest Late Cretaceous. Bittacus is considered "grossly paraphyletic" and serves as a catch-all for many distantly related species of hangingflies.
Peter Esben-Petersen was a Danish entomologist who specialised in Neuroptera across the world. He was also interested in the Orthoptera, Ephemeroptera and other insects of Denmark.
Dendroleontinae is a subfamily of Myrmeleontidae, the antlions.
Dendroleontini is a tribe in the antlion subfamily Dendroleontinae.
Nemoleontini is an antlion tribe in the subfamily Myrmeleontinae.
Harpobittacus is a genus of hangingfly of the family Bittacidae found in Australia.
Tettigoides is an extinct genus of katydids containing a single species, Tettigoides pectinata. It is the only genus and species in the subfamily Tettigoidinae. It is known from Ypresian aged deposits near Dinmore, Queensland, Australia.
Austropanorpa is an extinct genus of scorpionfly. It is the only member of the family Austropanorpidae. The type species, A. australis was described by Edgar Riek in 1952 based on two incomplete forewings from the Redbank Plains Formation of Queensland, of probable Eocene age, and was assigned to Panorpidae. Later, it was recognised as distinctive enough to be assigned to its own monotypic family by Rainer Willman in 1977. In 2018 the species "Orthophlebia" martynovae from the Early Jurassic (Toarcian) aged Cheremkhovo Formation near Lake Baikal in Siberia, described by Irina Sukacheva in 1985, was recognised as belonging to the genus. The genus is distinguished from other mecopterans by having nine branched radial sectors and four veins in the medial sector of both wings, as opposed to living panorpoids which are typically 5 and rarely 6 branched.
Mallada basalis is a species of green lacewing in the family Chrysopidae, first described by Francis Walker in 1853. No subspecies are listed in the Catalog of Life. The species was detected on mainland New Zealand in the 2010s.
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