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Mecoptera (from the Greek
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
: meco- = "long", -ptera = "wings") are an order of insect
Insect

Insects are the biggest class of arthropods and the only ones with wings. They are the most diverse group of animals on the planet. They are most diverse at the equator and their diversity declines toward the poles....
s with about 550 species in nine families worldwide. Mecoptera are sometimes called scorpionflies after their largest family, Panorpidae, in which the males have enlarged genitals that look similar to the stinger of a scorpion
Scorpion

Scorpions are any arachnid of the order Scorpionida. They are members of the order Scorpiones within the class Arachnida. There are about 2,000 species of scorpions, found widely distributed south of about Latitude, except New Zealand and Antarctica....
. The Bittacidae, or hangingflies, are a prominent family of elongate insects known for their elaborate mating rituals, in which females choose mates based on the quality of gift prey offered by various males.

Recent DNA
DNA

Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetics instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms and some viruses....
 evidence indicates that flea
Flea

Flea is the common name for insects of the order Siphonaptera which are wingless insects whose mouthparts are adapted for piercing skin and sucking blood....
s, which are traditionally considered an order as well (Order Siphonaptera), are instead highly specialized Mecoptera.






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Mecoptera (from the Greek
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
: meco- = "long", -ptera = "wings") are an order of insect
Insect

Insects are the biggest class of arthropods and the only ones with wings. They are the most diverse group of animals on the planet. They are most diverse at the equator and their diversity declines toward the poles....
s with about 550 species in nine families worldwide. Mecoptera are sometimes called scorpionflies after their largest family, Panorpidae, in which the males have enlarged genitals that look similar to the stinger of a scorpion
Scorpion

Scorpions are any arachnid of the order Scorpionida. They are members of the order Scorpiones within the class Arachnida. There are about 2,000 species of scorpions, found widely distributed south of about Latitude, except New Zealand and Antarctica....
. The Bittacidae, or hangingflies, are a prominent family of elongate insects known for their elaborate mating rituals, in which females choose mates based on the quality of gift prey offered by various males.

Recent DNA
DNA

Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetics instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms and some viruses....
 evidence indicates that flea
Flea

Flea is the common name for insects of the order Siphonaptera which are wingless insects whose mouthparts are adapted for piercing skin and sucking blood....
s, which are traditionally considered an order as well (Order Siphonaptera), are instead highly specialized Mecoptera. Grouped together with the fleas, Mecoptera would have about 3000 species.

Mecoptera have special importance in evolution of Insecta. Two of the most important insect orders, Lepidoptera
Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera is an order of insect that includes moths and butterfly. It is one of the most speciose orders in the class Insecta, encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterfly, skipper , and Hedylidae....
 and Diptera, along with Trichoptera
Trichoptera

Caddisflies, sedge-flies or rail flies are small moth-like insects having two pairs of hairy membranous insect wing. They are closely related to Lepidoptera which have scales on their wings, and the two orders together form the superorder Amphiesmenoptera....
, evolved from ancestors belonging to or strictly related to Mecoptera.

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