Mecoptera are small to medium-sized insects with long beaklike rostra, membranous wings and slender, elongated bodies. They have relatively simple mouthparts, with a long labium, long mandibles and fleshy palps, which resemble those of the more primitive true flies.

The Mecoptera (scorpionflies) are a curious group of terrestrial insects that usually live in moist sylvan habitats. Both larvae and adults are omnivorous. Mostly, they feed upon decaying vegetation and dead (or dying) insects.

Sep 25, 2023 · Adults feed mostly on small insects, but also on petals, nectar, fruits, pollen, leaves, and mosses. Panorpa will feed on insects trapped in spider webs and on decaying animal matter. Bittacidae catch prey with specialized hind legs, inject it with saliva and suck out the insides. Some eat plants, scraping the top layer off leaves. (8)(11)

Mecoptera, commonly known as scorpionflies, are a small order of ∼550 species in nine families. One family, the Nannochoristidae, has aquatic larvae. This small (eight species in two genera), relict family has a disjunct distribution in the southern hemisphere.

Mecoptera (from the Greek: mecos = "long", ptera = "wings") are an order of insects in the superorder Endopterygota with about six hundred species in nine families worldwide.

Nov 7, 2023 · The scorpionflies are small to medium-sized insects with four long, narrow wings and long antennae. They have chewing mouthparts located at the end of a broad, flat snout, which is two or three times as long as the head is wide. Metamorphosis is complete, the life stages being the egg, larva, pupa, and adult.

Information on Scorpionflies (Order: Mecoptera). The head of a scorpionfly is shaped like a beak, and this is a feature that is useful in distinguishing them from other insects.

The insect order Mecoptera is comprised of over 550 species including the scorpion flies, hanging flies, and earwigflies. They are small to medium sized, thin insects with long slender antennae.

The Mecoptera is a minor insect order of about 500 described species arranged in nine families. There are about 83 species known in North America.

For the time being, the Mecoptera are an easily recognised group, characterised by the elongate ventrally pointing rostrum or ‘beak’ which has biting and chewing mouthparts at its tip.