Panorpidae (common scorpionflies)

So-called common scorpionflies (order Mecoptera, family Panorpidae) are found in various locations around the world, generally in humid temperate forests north of the equator (some species are found as far south as Java). Quiet, cryptically patterned, and at times elusive, these medium- to large-sized scavengers (~10-35 mm) live in forest understories and forest/old-growth-field ecotones, where they feed on the remains of moribund and dead arthropods, berries, and even vertebrate carcasses. Despite their relatively small present-day numbers and apparently subtle role in most ecosystems, scorpionflies are among the oldest holometabolous insect lineages and possess an evolutionary history that presents many interesting phylogenetic questions. Many of the oldest holometabolous insect fossils, for example, are of scorpionflies, and the ancestral relationships of Mecoptera to the insect orders Diptera, Siphonaptera, Lepidoptera, and Trichoptera, have been investigated by many workers.

My research on this group (with Dr. Michael F. Whiting) has dealt primarily with two of the most recently derived families within the order, Panorpodidae and Panorpidae, and their constituent genera. Using sequence analysis of seven genetic markers (12S, 16S, 18S, 28S, COII, EF-1a, H3) for 64 taxa, we have constructed a phylogeny for these groups. We have also investigated wing patterns among the sampled taxa. Using this phylogeny, we have reviewed past phylogenetic hypotheses of the proposed species groups within the large panorpid genus Panorpa. Two of the principal finds from this research have been the confirmation that Panorpa is paraphyletic with respect to the genus Neopanorpa, and the confirmation of the phylogenetic importance of an anatomical feature, the abdominal horn, which appears to unite a large clade of scorpionflies within Panorpa, despite its split distribution in North America and Japan.

Our work will soon be submitted for publication.