Mecoptera: India
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Mecoptera
Introduction
Mecoptera, in which the males carry the terminal abdominal segments upturned in the manner of scorpions, are generally called scorpion-flies. They have beak-like prolongation of head and often maculated wings. The adults are smaller or medium sized insects. They have two pairs of large wings, a pair of antennae and a pair of large compound eyes. Legs are slender, but in few families they may be long and spidery. Mouth parts present at the snout like elongated head, are chewing me. Larvae are grub-like or caterpillar-like in appearance.
One of the main evolutionary line of the Endopterygota is called as the 'Panorpoid group' Besides Mecoptera it includes four more insect orders, namely Lepidoptera, Trichoptera, Diptera and Siphonaptera. It is postulated that the common ancestor of these group of insects might have been as primitive living Mecoptera (Merope: Meropidae).
Adults are omnivorous and feed on small insects, nector, pollen, petals, fruits, mosses etc. The winged forms are active fliers. The female lays eggs on ground either singly or in clusters of hundred or more. Larvae are found in mosses, rotten wood, mud and humus.
Mecoptera represents relatively a smaller insect order. These insects are rather scanty in nature both qualitatively and quantitatively. the order is relatively more Palearctic. in distribution and prefers vegetations in montane and submontane zones, though families Bittacidae and Panorpidae are cosmopolitan in distribution. Both these families have their representatives in India.
In habit, both larvae and adults are carnivorous, but the extent to which members of family Panorpidae prey upon other animals is doubtful. BiUacus remains suspended from grass or twigs by its fore-legs and preys upon small dipterans, whereas members of the genus Boreus live among mosses or beneath stones in autumn or early winter, appearing occasionally on the surface of snow. Sometimes they are observed feeding upon vegetable matter.
Mecoptera includes a little more than 350 species from. the world, which are referred to seven families viz., Bittacidae, Boreidae, Panorpidae, Notiothanmidae, Meropidae, Choristidae and Nannocharistidae under two suborders, Protomecoptera and Eumecoptera. The families Panorpidae and Bittacidae are relatively more common. In India this order is represented by 15 species only belonging to genera Bittacus (Family Bittacidae), Panorpa and Neopanorpa (Family Panorpidae).
Historical Resume
1900-1990
No significant work has come across of early period on this order except Needham (1909). worked out the Mecoptera collections present in Indian Museum, Calcutta.
Cheng Fung Ying (1952-1954) described 3 new Mecopteran species one of which was from India (Darjeeling). Penny (1970) described a new species Bittacus taraiensis of the family Bittacidae. Contribution on Indian Mecoptera also included the family Panorpidae (Panorpa.-7 species, Neopanorpa 6 species). Imms (1957) formulated keys of Mecoptera, based on evolutionary studies by TiUyard (1935». Byers (1965 and 1966) published the Mecoptera fauna of Indo-China, Borneo and Taiwan Islands.
Estimation of Taxa
Mecoptera is a small order, in which approximately 350 species are reported from all over world. Out of its 1 families, only two viz. Panorpidae and Bittacidae are represented in the Indian region.
Very little is known about Mecoptera of India. Altogether 15 species belonging to three genera Bittacus. Panorpa and N eopanorpa are reported from India. Majority of these species occur in North-Eastern hill ranges, i.e. Darjeeling(West Bengal), Sikkim, Assam and Meghalaya, while one species each is reported from Pant Nagar (U.P) and Bombay (Maharashtra).
Classified Treatment
Suborder Eumecoptera
This suborder of Mecoptera is represented in the world by 5 families, of which 2 families, namely Bittacidae and Panorpidae occur in India
Family Bittacidae has a cosmopolitan distribution, except the northern portion of Holarctic region. Indian component of this family, is represented by a single species under genus Bittacus. The member of this genus are very slender Tipula-like insects having prehensile tarsi and very prominent bulbous swelling of male abdominal end.
Family Panorpidae is having relatively more Indian representation. It is represented by two genera viz., Panorpa and Neopanorpa. The former has 7 species (p.appendiculata West, P. chinensis Chang, P. /enestrata Needham, P.sordida Needham). The genus Neopanorpa is represented by 6' species viz., N. borensis Chang, N. contracta Chan, N. cornata Esbenand Peterson, N. flava. Esb. and Pet., N. salai Navas and N.zebrata Esb. and Pet.
The other suborder Protomecoptea does pot occur in Indian region.
Expertise
Abroad
N. D. Penny, Natural History Museum, Urbana, (U.S.A)
Cheng, Fung-Ying, Department of Entomology, National Taiwan University, (faiwan). G. W. Byers, Department of Entomology, University of Kansas (U.S.A.)
Selected References
Byers, G. W. 1965. The Mecoptera of Indo-China, Pacific Ins. 7 : 705-148.
Byers, G. W. 1966. Mecoptera from Borneo and Taiwan Islands. Pacific Ins. 8 : 885-892.
Carpenter, F. M. 1986. Substitute name of the extinct genera Cycloptera Martynova (Mecoptera) and Pereleana Carpenter (Orthoptera). Psyche, 93 : 315-376.
Needham, J. O. 1909. Notes on the Neuroptera in the collection of Indian Museum. Rec.Indian Mus. 3, Pt.3 : 195-196.
Penny, M. D. 1970. A new species of Bittacus (Mecoptera: Bittacidae) from India. Oriental Ins., 3 (2) : 161-163.
Tillyard, R. J. 1935. Evolution of scorpionflies and their derivatives (Order Mecoptera). Ann. ent. Soc. Amer., 28 : 1-45. Willmer, P. 1987. The Phylogenetic system of the Mecoptera. Syst. Entomol., 12 : 519-524.
