Scorpion fly - Panorpa insolens - BugGuide.Net

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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Scorpionflies, Hangingflies, and Allies (Mecoptera) » Common Scorpionflies (Panorpidae) » Panorpa » americana species group (Panorpa americana species group) » Panorpa insolens

Photo#302548

Copyright © 2009 Joe Zito

Scorpion fly - Panorpa insolens -

Cedar Rapids/ICNC, Linn County, Iowa, USA
July 11, 2009
Size: 17 mm

Female scorpion fly? That's my first guess. It has the long "face", as in this one: http://bugguide.net/node/view/81626

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Contributed by Joe Zito on 11 July, 2009 - 7:28pm
Last updated 27 July, 2018 - 9:12am

Moved

Moved from Panorpa.

… v belov, 27 July, 2018 - 9:12am

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This is Panorpa insolens (pre

This is Panorpa insolens (previosly helena) based on the lack of submarginal spots, the locality, and time of year.

… Wes Bicha, 25 July, 2018 - 11:15pm

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i agree

That's what it looks like to me. A couple weeks ago I found a lot of them out. There seems to be fewer now. The males have an interesting wing rotation, showing off behavior, I assume to attract the girls.

… Andrew Williams, 11 July, 2009 - 7:43pm

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species

I can get some better pictures, looks like there are a lot species in the panorpa genus.

… Joe Zito, 11 July, 2009 - 10:28pm

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wing pattern

I think the wing pattern is helpful in narrowing it down, so this top down shot is good for that. I'm not sure what other features would be diagnostic though.

… Andrew Williams, 12 July, 2009 - 9:38am

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Panorpa species

Joe, when trying to ID a scorpionfly from last years, INHF Bioblitz it was pretty easy to get to genus, but the keys to figure out species that I found online had to do with the mouthparts from the lower side. Even with the pinned specimen under a scope I was not sure what I had. Perhaps there is a Mecoptera specialist that could help us out with species ID. Here are my posts.
http://bugguide.net/node/view/263978
http://bugguide.net/node/view/263979

… Moni Hayne, 13 July, 2009 - 2:39pm

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Thanks

I also found this set of plates with illustrations of mecoptera wings for several of the species of Panorpa http://www.biology.ualberta.ca/bsc/ejournal/cmw01/panwing.html

… Joe Zito, 13 July, 2009 - 2:58pm

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