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'Mecoptera' (from the Greek: ''meco-'' = "long", ''ptera-'' = "wings") are an order of insects with about 600 species worldwide. Mecoptera are sometimes called 'scorpionflies' after their largest non-flea family, Panorpidae, in which the males have enlarged genitals that look similar to the stinger of a scorpion. The Bittacidae, or 'hangingflies', are a prominent family of elongate insects known for their elaborate mating rituals, in which females choose mates based on the quality of gift prey offered by various males.
Recent DNA evidence indicates that fleas, which are traditionally considered an order as well (Order Siphonaptera), are instead highly specialized Mecoptera. Grouped together with the fleas, Mecoptera would have about 3000 species.
Mecoptera have a special importance in evolution of Insecta. Two of the most important insect orders, Lepidoptera and Diptera, along with Trichoptera, evolved from ancestors belonging to or strictly related to Mecoptera.

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References

★ Evolution of the Insects, Grimaldi, D. and Engel, M.S., , , Cambridge University Press, 2005, ISBN 0-521-82149-5

★ Mecoptera is paraphyletic: multiple genes and phylogeny of Mecoptera and Siphonaptera, Whiting, M. F., , , Zoologica Scripta, 2002

External links

★ Mecoptera at the Tree of Life

★ Mecoptera image gallery at myrmecos.net