Panorpida

 ( Insect Superorders ) 

Panorpida or Mecopterida is a Superorder of Holometabola. The conjectured monophyly of the Panorpida is historically based on morphological evidence, namely the reduction or loss of the ovipositor and several internal characteristics, including a muscle connecting a and the first axillary sclerite at the base of the insect wing, various features of the larval maxilla and labium, and basal fusion of CuP and A1 veins in the hind wings. The monophyly of the Panorpida is supported by recent molecular data.

---

Antliophora The Panorpid clade Antliophora contains one of the major phylogenetic puzzles among the Insecta. It is unclear as of 2020 whether the Mecoptera (scorpionflies and allies) form a single clade, or whether the Siphonaptera (fleas) are inside that clade, so that the traditional "Mecoptera" is paraphyletic. However the earlier suggestion that the Siphonaptera are sister to the Boreidae (snow scorpionflies)

(2025). 9780231501705, Columbia University Press. . ISBN 9780231501705

is not supported; instead, there is the possibility that they are sister to another Mecopteran family, the Nannochoristidae of the Southern hemisphere. The two possible trees are shown below:

(a) Mecoptera is paraphyletic, containing Siphonaptera:

(b) Mecoptera is monophyletic, sister to Siphonaptera

---

Further reading

Post Comment