| Panorpa communis | |
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| P. communis male with prey | |
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| P. communis female | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Mecoptera |
| Family: | Panorpidae |
| Genus: | Panorpa |
| Species: | P. communis |
| Binomial name | |
| Panorpa communis | |
Panorpa communis, the common scorpionfly, [1] is a species of scorpionfly.
This species is native to Europe (Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Ukraine, and European Russia) [2] and Northern Asia. [3] [4] [5]
These scorpionflies can be usually found in hedgerows and patches of nettle. [6]
Panorpa communis can reach a body length of about 30 millimetres (1.2 in). [6] The common scorpionfly has a black and yellow body, with a reddish head and tail. The male has a pair of claspers at the end of its tail (for holding the female during mating), [6] giving it a scorpion-like appearance, [6] although it is not a stinger.
The adult insect has a wingspan of about 35 millimetres (1.4 in), [6] with wings that are mostly clear, but have many dark spots or patches. Its head, mounted with large eyes, is drawn into a prominent, downward pointing beak, [6] which opens at the tip of its head. Females are longer, heavier, and have longer legs than males. [7]
In the female, the eighth abdominal segment is the shortest, almost twice shorter than the seventh; the sixth is narrowed towards the back. [8] The larva resembles a caterpillar and grows up to 20 millimetres (0.79 in) long. It has three pairs of thoracic legs and eight pairs of prolegs. [9]
The adult is seen between May and September. [6] 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] Eggs are laid in soil annually and the larvae both scavenge and pupate there. [6]
Males release pheromones and offer nuptial gifts to females in the form of saliva secretions and nuptial prey (usually dead arthropods). [11] Before offering the nuptial gifts, the male and female, perform ritualized premating behavior, which includes slow wing movements, accompanied by brief sequences of rapid vibrations from their abdomen. [11] The mating success of females increases with the size of nuptial gifts offered by the male. [11]
Damselflies are flying insects of the suborder Zygoptera in the order Odonata. They are similar to dragonflies but are usually smaller and have slimmer bodies. Most species fold the wings along the body when at rest, unlike dragonflies which hold the wings flat and away from the body. Damselflies have existed since the Late Jurassic, and are found on every continent except Antarctica.
Mecoptera 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 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.
Dobsonflies are a subfamily of insects, Corydalinae, part of the Megalopteran family Corydalidae. The larvae are aquatic, living in streams, and the adults are often found along streams as well. The nine genera of dobsonflies are distributed in the Americas, Asia, and South Africa.
Bittacidae is a family of scorpionflies commonly called hangingflies or hanging scorpionflies.
Boreidae, commonly called snow scorpionflies, or in the British Isles, snow fleas are a very small family of scorpionflies, containing only around 30 species, all of which are boreal or high-altitude species in the Northern Hemisphere.
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.
Empis borealis is a species of dance flies in the fly family Empididae. It is found in most of Europe, except the Balkan Peninsula, the Baltic Region and the Iberian Peninsula. The brown wings of the female are very broad, while the male fly’s wings are narrower.
In the 10th edition of Systema Naturae of 1758–1759, Carl Linnaeus classified the arthropods, including insects, arachnids and crustaceans, among his class "Insecta". He described the Insecta as:
A very numerous and various class consisting of small animals, breathing through lateral spiracles, armed on all sides with a bony skin, or covered with hair; furnished with many feet, and moveable antennae, which project from the head, and are the probable instruments of sensation.
The labrum is a flap-like structure that lies immediately in front of the mouth in almost all extant Euarthropoda. The most conspicuous exceptions are the Pycnogonida, which probably are chelicerate-relatives. In entomology, the labrum amounts to the "upper lip" of an insect mouth, the corresponding "lower lip" being the labium.
The study of the genitalia of Lepidoptera is important for Lepidoptera taxonomy in addition to development, anatomy and natural history. The genitalia are complex and provide the basis for species discrimination in most families and also in family identification. The genitalia are attached onto the tenth or most distal segment of the abdomen. Lepidoptera have some of the most complex genital structures in the insect groups with a wide variety of complex spines, setae, scales and tufts in males, claspers of different shapes and different modifications of the ductus bursae in females.
Kalotermes flavicollis, the yellownecked dry-wood termite, is a species of dampwood termites belonging to the family Kalotermitidae, one of the most primitive families of termites.
A nuptial gift is a nutritional gift given by one partner in some animals' sexual reproduction practices.
Hylobittacus apicalis is a species of hangingfly in the order Mecoptera, and the only species within the genus Hylobittacus.
Holcorpa is a genus of extinct insects in the scorpionfly order Mecoptera. Two Eocene age species found in Western North America were placed into the genus, H. dillhoffi and H. maculosa.
Panorpa cognata is a species of scorpionfly belonging to the family Panorpidae.
Neoitamus cyanurus, the common awl robberfly, is a species of 'robber fly' belonging to the family Asilidae.
Harpobittacus is a genus of hangingfly of the family Bittacidae found in Australia.
Cyphoderris strepitans, the sagebrush cricket or sagebrush grig, is a one of only a few surviving species in the family Prophalangopsidae. Three of these species are in the genus Cyphoderris and all three are endemic to North America. C. strepitans name is from the Latin word 'strepitans' which means 'making a great noise', refers to their calling song during the mating season.
Phoreticovelia disparata, also called the Zeus bug, is a species of semi-aquatic bug from the family Veliidae with a unique form of sexual dimorphism. It is endemic to Australia (Queensland).
Panorpa vulgaris, also known by its common name meadow scorpionfly is a species from the genus Panorpa. The species was first described in 1845.
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