last updated 8.July.2007 |
Mecoptera and Siphonaptera Image Gallery Mecoptera is an order of holometabolous insects containing a number of unusual taxa, including scorpionflies, hangingflies, and snow fleas. Many species, such as the wingless hangingfly Apterobittacus and the green stigma hangingfly Bittacus pictured below, are predaceous. Recent DNA sequence and morphological evidence strongly implies that fleas (Siphonaptera) evolved from within the Mecoptera. Fleas may be thought of as Mecopterans that have become highly specialized as external parasites of vertebrates, so I have placed their images in the same gallery. Bittacidae (Hangingflies): Panorpidae (Scorpionflies):
Siphonaptera (Fleas):
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