Camel neck flies

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Camel neck flies
Phaeostigma major

Phaeostigma major

Systematics
Class : Insects (Insecta)
Subclass : Flying insects (Pterygota)
Superordinate : New winged wing (Neoptera)
without rank: Reticulated winged (Neuropterida)
Order : Camel neck flies
Scientific name
Raphidioptera
Martynov , 1938

The camel neck flies (Raphidioptera) are an order of insects . Together with the reticulated winged (Neuroptera) and the large winged (Megaloptera) they form the group of reticulated winged (Neuropterida).

features

The body length of the camel neck flies is between 8 and 18 mm, in a few species more and in one case even up to 45 mm. The most striking and eponymous feature of the camel neck flies is the greatly elongated first breast segment ( prothorax ) on which a long, flattened head rests. Both this segment and the head are noticeably mobile, a modification that can otherwise only be seen in the catching horror (Mantodea) and the catchy ( Mantispa spec. ). It is often carried slightly raised and at an angle. In contrast to the Mantodea or Mantispidae, the front legs sit on the end of the prothorax.

The body is mostly black or dark brown (sometimes with a blue coating) and sometimes has a metallic sheen. There may be yellow, brown, or whitish spots on the head, thorax, and abdomen . The complex eyes in front emerge hemispherical and are also black in most species. The bristle-shaped feelers consisting of 35 to 75 links are pivoted between them.

The wings are large and richly veined, they also have a clear and characteristic wing mark (pterostigma). This is mostly monochrome, mostly dark brown to light yellowish, in a few species even two-colored. In the resting position, the wings are carried like a roof on the abdomen. The animals each have five feet ( tarsi ) on their legs , the third being enlarged lobed.

The females have a conspicuous ovipositor , which is about as long as the abdomen itself. Two paired appendages ( gonapophyses ) of the eighth abdomen segment, which are fused to form a tube, are enveloped by two gonapophyses of the ninth segment. The laying tube is very flexible and mobile, equipped with tactile organs at the tip.

Occurrence

All of the over 200 known species of camel neck flies live in the northern hemisphere . The southernmost occurrences of this group of animals are in southern Mexico and Taiwan , the northernmost in Lapland .

About 75 species are found in Europe, mainly in the mountains of southern Europe. In Central Europe only 16 species live mainly in sunny habitats from the herb layer, on bushes to the crown of trees.

Way of life

The flight time of most camel neck flies is from May to June, so they are active in spring and also diurnal. The adult animals live mainly in the foliage of various trees and bushes and feed there predatory on various insects, especially aphids . They catch their prey with the biting mouthparts mainly by optically oriented, active searching of the vegetation. The great mobility of the head and the elongated front chest facilitate the acquisition of food.

The pairing is initially likely to take place chemically via pheromones and optically at close range. Before the pairing, there is a characteristic and decisive foreplay in which the partners face each other in order to register and stimulate themselves with the antennae and visually excited. In the best case, the female finally signals willingness to mate by slightly spreading her wings and lifting the abdomen (especially the ovipositor) while she turns to the mating position in front of the male. This pushes itself from behind under the female and tries to reach the abdomen of the female with the extremely upwardly curved abdomen. If it succeeds, it gets caught in the female's genital opening with a pair of clasps. As a result, the male hangs with his back down on the female (Raphidiidae) during the often long copulation.

The eggs are laid in cracks in the bark , with the Ovipositor being pierced at least halfway into the substrate.

Larva of a camel neck fly, with prey below

Larval development

The elongated larvae live under the bark or on the ground and also feed predatory. They have a strongly chitinized front body made up of the head and prothorax, the rest of the body is rather soft-skinned. They are relatively fast runners, although they can also run backwards. Above all, they have made a name for themselves as bark and longhorn beetle hunters and as eaters of the eggs of nuns , a species of butterfly that is damaging to forests .

Larval development takes two to three years for most species. In a few species it can last a year, in others up to six years, with the animals shedding their skin 9 to 13 times . After the larval period, some bark-dwelling species pupate in a pupa cavity gnawed into the softer bark substrate, in which the pupa lies motionless until shortly before pupil rest. This already looks very similar to the adult insect with the exception of the wings that are still present as enclosures. Shortly before the end of the doll's rest period, however, it begins to move within the cave and finally slips out of the doll's shell ( exuvia ) as a finished insect .

Systematics of the camel neck flies

The system of the order camel neck flies is based on a number of other criteria, including the possession of pinpoint eyes ( Ocelli ). Only the Raphidiidae (currently over 180 species worldwide) have pinpoint eyes, while the Inocelliidae (currently over 20 species worldwide) lack them. The following are the species (species and subspecies) that have been identified in Europe (between 45 ° N and 60 ° N east to the Urals, including the entire Crimean peninsula) and which can be classified as the only two most recently represented families:

The closest relatives of the camel neck flies are the reticulated winged (Neuroptera) and the large winged (Megaloptera).

Fossil evidence

Fossils of this insect order are rare. The oldest evidence is an imago of the Mesoraphidia family from the Upper Jurassic of Turkestan . The fossil differs from its closest recent relatives mainly in the shape of the head, the length of the prothorax and the morphology of the laying tube . Almost all other fossil adults and larvae were found as inclusions in the Eocene Baltic amber .

literature

  • Ragnar K. Kinzelbach, Horst Aspöck , Ulrike Aspöck : Raphidioptera (camel neck flies) in: Handbuch der Zoologie IV (2), Berlin 1971, ISBN 978-3-11-003566-7
  • Horst Aspöck, Ulrike Aspöck, Hubert Rausch: The Raphidioptera of the earth. A monographic representation of the systematics, taxonomy, biology, ecology and chorology of the recent raphidioptera on earth, with a comprehensive overview of the fossil raphidioptera . 2 volumes, Goecke & Evers, Krefeld 1991, ISBN 3-931374-27-0
  • Klaus Honomichl, Heiko Bellmann: Biology and ecology of insects. CD-ROM, Gustav Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart 1998. ISBN 3-8274-0760-5
  • E. Wachmann , C. Saure: Netzflügler, mud and camel neck flies, observation, way of life. Naturbuch Verlag, Augsburg, 1997, ISBN 3-89440-222-9

Web links

Commons : Camel neck flies  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Müller: Textbook of Palaeozoology. Volume II, part 3, Jena 1978.