| Hangingfly Temporal range:
| |
|---|---|
| |
| Hylobittacus apicalis, Michigan, USA | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Mecoptera |
| Infraorder: | Raptipeda |
| Family: | Bittacidae Handlirsch, 1906 |
| Genera | |
|
See text | |
| Diversity | |
| 16 genera, ca. 170 species | |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bittacidae.
Bittacidae is a family of scorpionflies commonly called hangingflies or hanging scorpionflies.
The genus Bittacus, comprising approximately 75% of all species within the family, occurs worldwide. Other genera are mostly confined to South America or Australia. Members of this family may be confused with crane flies, in the order Diptera, but can be distinguished by their two pairs of wings and lack of halteres.
They are distinguished in the fact that during mating the male captures a prey insect and offers it to the female as a nuptial gift. The larger the prey item is, the more receptive the female will be to mating.[1]
- ^ Gao, Qionghua; Hua, Baozhen (3 December 2013). "Co-Evolution of the Mating Position and Male Genitalia in Insects: A Case Study of a Hangingfly". PLOS ONE. 8 (12): e80651. Bibcode:2013PLoSO...880651G. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0080651. PMC 3849121. PMID 24312490.