Mecoptera

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.

Mecoptera

Richard Bartz , Munich aka Makro Freak Image:MFB.jpg · CC BY-SA 2.5 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
scorpionflyPBDB
Sits inside
AntliophoraPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Arthropoda
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Insecta

Time the record covers

At least 286 million years on record.

The record covers at least 293.52 Mya to 7.246 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 298.9 Mya to 5.333 Mya.

Carboniferous — about 0 of 1226 occurrencesPermian — about 451 of 1226 occurrencesPermianEarly Triassic — about 2 of 1226 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 122 of 1226 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 74 of 1226 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 173 of 1226 occurrencesEarly JurassicMiddle Jurassic — about 79 of 1226 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 137 of 1226 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 71 of 1226 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 27 of 1226 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 1 of 1226 occurrencesEocene — about 81 of 1226 occurrencesOligocene — about 7 of 1226 occurrencesMiocene — about 1 of 1226 occurrencesPliocene — about 0 of 1226 occurrencesPleistocene — about 0 of 1226 occurrences305–295 Mya — about 2 occurrences295–284 Mya — about 16 occurrences284–274 Mya — about 67 occurrences274–264 Mya — about 222 occurrences264–254 Mya — about 65 occurrences254–244 Mya — about 88 occurrences244–234 Mya — about 118 occurrences234–223 Mya — about 14 occurrences223–213 Mya — about 15 occurrences213–203 Mya — about 30 occurrences203–193 Mya — about 68 occurrences193–183 Mya — about 81 occurrences183–173 Mya — about 37 occurrences173–163 Mya — about 61 occurrences163–152 Mya — about 113 occurrences152–142 Mya — about 40 occurrences142–132 Mya — about 4 occurrences132–122 Mya — about 31 occurrences122–112 Mya — about 35 occurrences112–102 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences102–91 Mya — about 27 occurrences61–51 Mya — about 30 occurrences51–41 Mya — about 17 occurrences41–30 Mya — about 37 occurrences30–20 Mya — about 5 occurrences10–0 Mya — about 1 occurrence293.52 Mya7.246 Mya305 Mya0 Mya

1,226 occurrences of Mecoptera on record, most of them in the Permian. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group, and the chart stops with its fossils rather than at the present. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

1,226 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

134 formations

Iva-Gora Beds — 65.55°N, 43.67°EIva-Gora Beds — 65.59°N, 42.57°EIva-Gora Beds — 65.60°N, 43.62°EDaohugou — 41.32°N, 119.24°EMadygen — 40.05°N, 70.21°EMadygen — 40.03°N, 70.25°EMitina — 53.55°N, 87.25°ECroudace Bay — 33.02°S, 151.67°ECroudace Bay — 32.98°S, 151.65°EYanchang — 35.22°N, 109.03°EYanchang — 35.21°N, 108.83°EKarabastau — 42.90°N, 70.00°EKarabastau — 42.69°N, 70.41°EKarabastau — 42.95°N, 69.92°EKazankovo-Markinskaya — 53.92°N, 87.25°EKoshelevka — 57.03°N, 57.72°EPosidonia Shale — 52.35°N, 10.74°EPosidonia Shale — 52.36°N, 10.59°EPosidonia Shale — 52.31°N, 10.62°EPosidonia Shale — 52.27°N, 10.68°EDzhil — 42.70°N, 77.20°ETersinskaya — 53.45°N, 87.31°ETersinskaya — 53.79°N, 87.25°EYixian — 41.15°N, 117.96°EYixian — 41.62°N, 120.83°EYixian — 41.03°N, 118.92°EYixian — 41.54°N, 118.92°EYixian — 41.83°N, 116.69°EYixian — 41.17°N, 119.25°EYixian — 41.19°N, 119.21°EWellington — 38.64°N, 97.21°WWellington — 36.51°N, 97.32°WGramoteinskaya — 54.21°N, 86.90°EYinping — 31.50°N, 117.79°EJiulongshan — 41.32°N, 119.24°EJiulongshan — 40.91°N, 118.32°EJiulongshan — 40.96°N, 117.61°ESulyukta — 40.03°N, 70.50°EItat — 56.17°N, 93.17°EPoldarsa — 60.61°N, 45.62°EKlondike Mountain — 48.66°N, 118.75°WBadaowan — 45.60°N, 84.90°EBlackstone — 27.62°S, 152.75°ELilstock — 51.99°N, 2.21°WLilstock — 52.06°N, 2.14°W

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The named rock units Mecoptera has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 110 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 211 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Mecoptera and its relatives

Permian

Where Mecoptera and its relatives were recorded in the Permian.

Found in the same rock

7,417 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 379 sites for Mecoptera, and this reads 240 of them. Of that, one read hit the database's own return limit, so every count below is a floor rather than a total. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

259 references

Each of the 1,226 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 247 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Mecoptera

Credit
Richard Bartz , Munich aka Makro Freak Image:MFB.jpg
Licence
CC BY-SA 2.5
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan was found. Smithsonian Open Access, MorphoSource and Sketchfab were all searched.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itAntliophora through timeFormations of the PermianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Packard 1886