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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Scorpionflies, Hangingflies and Allies (Mecoptera) » Forcepflies (Meropeidae)

Family Meropeidae - Forcepflies

Classification · Other Common Names · Numbers · Size · Identification · Range · Life Cycle · Remarks · Works Cited
Merope tuber - Forcepsfly or Earwigfly - ventral view - Merope tuber - male Neuropteran? Small lacewing size, but folds wings completely flat - Merope tuber - female Neuropteran? Small lacewing size, but folds wings completely flat - Merope tuber - female Mystery - Merope tuber Forcepfly - Merope tuber - female Forcepfly? - Merope tuber - male brown veined wings - Merope tuber - male brown veined wings - Merope tuber
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Mecoptera (Scorpionflies, Hangingflies and Allies)
Family Meropeidae (Forcepflies)
Other Common Names
Earwigflies, Earwig Scorpionflies
Numbers
2 spp. worldwide, one in North America, another in sw. Australia(1)
Size
body 8-15 mm
Identification
male claspers (slender structures at end of abdomen) are unique(1)
Range
e. NA; sw. Australia(1)
Life Cycle
Life history and larvae unknown(2)(3)
Remarks
The family was widespread during the Jurassic from Australia to Antarctica and over the Americas; the extant members are relics that survived at the edges of that ancient range.
Works Cited
1.World checklist of extant Mecoptera species
2.Scorpionflies, hangingflies, and other Mecoptera
By Geroge W. Byers
3.Earwigflies in the Great Smokies
By J.C. Dunford, D. Serrano, and L.A. Somma
Contributed by john and jane balaban on 1 March, 2005 - 3:15pm
Additional contributions by cotinis, Robin McLeod, v belov
Last updated 29 January, 2010 - 6:50pm

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