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.
The Rhinophrynidae are a family of frogs containing one extant genus, the monotypic Rhinophrynus, and a number of fossil genera. The family is sometimes known as the Mexican burrowing toads or simply burrowing toads.
Meropeidae is a family of tiny scorpionflies within the order Mecoptera with only three living species, commonly referred to as "earwigflies". These include the North American Merope tuber, the Western Australian Austromerope poultoni, and the recently discovered South American A. brasiliensis. The biology of these species is essentially unknown, and their larvae have never been seen. The disjunct distribution suggests a common origin before the breakup of the ancient supercontinent of Pangaea. There are two undisputed extinct genera, Boreomerope antiqua known from an isolated wing found in the Middle Jurassic Itat Formation of Siberia and Burmomerope with three species from the mid Cretaceous (Cenomanian) aged Burmese amber. As such, the extant members of this family can be considered living fossils. These insects are also of interest due to their presumed basal position in the order Mecoptera. Thaumatomerope with four described species all from the Madygen Formation in Kyrgyzstan has historically sometimes been included within the family, it was placed into its own monotypic family, "Thaumatomeropidae." in 2002.
Nannochoristidae is a family of scorpionflies with many unusual traits. It is a tiny, relict family with a single extant genus, Nannochorista, with eight species occurring in New Zealand, southeastern Australia, Tasmania, Argentina and Chile. Due to the group's distinctiveness from other scorpionflies, it is sometimes placed in its own order, the Nannomecoptera. Some studies have placed them as the closest living relatives of fleas. Most mecopteran larvae are eruciform, or shaped like caterpillars. Nannochoristid larvae, however, are elateriform, and have elongated and slender bodies. The larvae are aquatic, which is unique among mecopterans. The larvae are predatory, hunting on the beds of shallow streams, primarily on the larvae of aquatic Diptera like chironomids.
Bittacidae is a family of scorpionflies commonly called hangingflies or hanging scorpionflies.
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. Species range between 9–25 mm long.
Eomeropidae is a family of aberrant, flattened scorpionflies represented today by only a single living species, Notiothauma reedi, known from the Nothofagus forests in southern Chile, while all other recognized genera in the family are known only as fossils, with the earliest definitive fossil known from Liassic-aged strata, and the youngest from Paleogene-aged strata.
The Choristidae are a small family of scorpionflies known only from Australia. Their larvae are found in moss mats.
Paleontology or palaeontology is the study of prehistoric life forms on Earth through the examination of plant and animal fossils. This includes the study of body fossils, tracks (ichnites), burrows, cast-off parts, fossilised feces (coprolites), palynomorphs and chemical residues. Because humans have encountered fossils for millennia, paleontology has a long history both before and after becoming formalized as a science. This article records significant discoveries and events related to paleontology that occurred or were published in the year 1970.
Dinopanorpidae is a small family of extinct insects in the order Mecoptera (scorpionflies) that contains two genera and seven species.
Dinopanorpa is an extinct monotypic genus of scorpionfly that contains the single species Dinopanorpa megarche and is the type genus of the extinct family Dinopanorpidae. The genus is known from a single hindwing specimen, the holotype, currently deposited in the collections of the National Museum of Natural History, as number "69173", and which was first described by Dr Theodore D.A. Cockerell in 1924. The name is a combination of the Greek deino meaning "terrible" or "monstrous" and "Panorpa", the type genus of Panorpidae the family in which Dinopanorpa was first placed.
Dinokanaga is a small genus of scorpionfly belonging to the extinct family Dinopanorpidae. The six species D. andersoni, D. dowsonae, D. hillsi, D. sternbergi, D. webbi, and D. wilsoni have all been recovered from Eocene fossil sites in British Columbia, Canada, and Washington state, United States.
Panorpodes is a genus of scorpionflies in the family Panorpodidae, containing the following species:
Dominickus is an extinct genus of moth in the butterfly-moth family Castniidae containing a single species Dominickus castnioides. The species is known from late Eocene, Priabonian stage, lake deposits near the small community of Guffey in Teller County, Colorado, United States.
Fortiholcorpa paradoxa is an extinct species of scorpionfly (Mecoptera) from the Middle Jurassic of China. It is the only known species of its genus.
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.
Holcorpidae is an extinct family of scorpionfies. It contains two genera, Conicholcorpa which is known from the Middle Jurassic Daohugou beds of Inner Mongolia, China, and Holcorpa, known from the Eocene of North America, including the McAbee Fossil Beds of British Columbia, and the Florissant Formation of Colorado. Members of this family are distinguished by their unusually long male genitalia, as well as characteristics of their wing venation. Both Miriholcorpa and Fortiholcorpa from the Middle Jurassic of China also have affinities to this family, but the incompleteness of their remains and differences from known holcorpids make their placement uncertain.
Caurinus is a genus of snow scorpionflies in the family Boreidae. There are at least two described species in Caurinus.
Brachypanorpa oregonensis is a species of scorpionfly in the family Panorpodidae. It is found in western North America.
Brachypanorpa is a genus of scorpionflies in the family Panorpodidae. There are about five described species in Brachypanorpa.
