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Snow scorpionfly
 
 
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Snow scorpionflies (Boreidae), sometimes known as snow fleas, are a very small family of Scorpionflies, containing only around 30 species, all of which are borealBoreal

Boreal may refer to these:*Northern from the eponymous Boreas, god of the North Wind in Greek mythology....
 or high-altitude species in the Northern HemisphereNorthern Hemisphere

The Northern Hemisphere is the half of a planet's surface that is north of the equator ....
. Recent research indicates that the boreids are more closely related to fleaFlea

Flea is the common name for any of the small wingless insects of the order Siphonaptera....
s than to other scorpionflies, which renders the order MecopteraMecoptera

Mecoptera are an order of insects with about 600 species worldwide....
 paraphyletic if the order Siphonaptera is excluded from it.

These insects are small (typically 6 mm or less), with the wings reduced to bristles or absent, and they are somewhat compressed, so there is in fact some resemblance to fleas. They are most commonly active during the winter months, towards the transition into spring, and the larvae typically feed on mosses. The adults will often disperse between breeding areas by walking across the open snow, thus the common name. The males use their bristle-like wings to help grasp the female while mating.

Species

This list is adapted from the World Checklist of extant Mecoptera species , and complete as of 1997.

  • Boreus Latreille, 1816
    • Boreus beybienkoi 1962 (Kyrghyzstan)
    • Boreus borealis Banks, 1923 (Alaska)
    • Boreus brumalis Fitch, 1847 (USA, Canada)
    • Boreus californicus Packard, 1870 (USA, Canada)
    • Boreus chadzhigireji Pliginsky, 1914 (Ukraine)
    • Boreus coloradensis Byers, 1955 (USA)
    • Boreus elegans Carpenter, 1935 (USA, Canada)
    • Boreus hyemalis (Linnaeus), 1767 (Europe)
    • Boreus intermedius Lloyd, 1934 (Alaska)
    • Boreus jacutensis Plutenko, 1984 (Russia)
    • Boreus jezoensis Hori & Morimoto, 1996 (Japan)
    • Boreus kratochvili Mayer, 1938 (Czechoslovakia)
    • Boreus lokayi Klapálek, 1901 (Romania)
    • Boreus navasi Pliginsky, 1914 (Ukraine)
    • Boreus nivoriundus Fitch, 1847 (USA)
    • Boreus nix Carpenter, 1935 (USA, Canada)
    • Boreus orientalis Martynova, 1954 (Far Eastern Russia)
    • Boreus pilosus Carpenter, 1935 (USA, Canada)
    • Boreus reductus Carpenter, 1933 (USA, Canada)
    • Boreus semenovi Pliginsky, 1930 (Far Eastern Russia)
    • Boreus sjoestedti Navás, 1925 (Kamtchatka Peninsula)
    • Boreus tardokijanensis Plutenko, 1985 (Russia)
    • Boreus vlasovi Martynova, 1954 (Turkmenistan, Tadzhikistan)
    • Boreus westwoodi Hagen, 1866 (Europe)


  • Caurinus Russell, 1979
    • Caurinus dectes Russell, 1979 (Oregon)


  • Hesperoboreus Penny, 1977
    • Hesperoboreus brevicaudus (Byers, 1961) (USA)
    • Hesperoboreus notoperates (Cooper, 1972) (California)

See also

  • Snow flies (Chionea) - a convergentConvergent evolution

    In evolutionary biology, convergent evolution describes the process whereby organisms not closely related independently acqu...
     genus of wingless crane fliesCrane fly

    Crane flies are a family of insects resembling giant mosquitoes....
  • ApteropanorpidaeApteropanorpidae

    Apteropanorpidae is a tiny family of wingless scorpionflies....
     - another family of wingless scorpionflies