A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife
Project Noah Nature School
Panorpa germanica
Male Panorpa sp. (most probably Panorpa germanica). Panorpa is a genus of the order Mecoptera (from the Greek: mecos = "long", ptera = "wings"). Mecopterans are commonly called scorpionflies after their largest family, Panorpidae in which the males have enlarged genitals that look similar to the stingers of scorpions, and long beaklike rostra. 6th photo: Male genitalia (hypovalves) with darker calipers, more-or-less parallel and slightly expanded at the tips typical for P. germanica.
Deciduous woodland.
Mecoptera have special importance in the evolution of the insects. Two of the most important insect orders, Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) and Diptera (true flies), along with Trichoptera (caddisflies), probably evolved from ancestors belonging to, or strictly related to, the Mecoptera.
Spotted on May 5, 2017
Submitted on May 9, 2017
No Comments