Family NANNOCHORISTIDAE

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Introduction

The Nannochoristidae is a small family based on the genus Nannochorista Tillyard. They are known from south-eastern Australia (including Tasmania), the south island of New Zealand, southern Chile and south-eastern Argentina. Adults are small (forewing ‹13 mm); the wing venation is open with few crossveins and RS is three-branched.

Adults are found amongst vegetation near the edges of small streams or lakes during late spring and summer. Eggs are laid in wet litter near the water's edge. The aquatic larvae are elongate and campodeiform, and live in the fine sediment of the lake margin or stream. They apparently feed mostly on chironomid larvae. Pupation occurs near the water's edge in damp vegetation, soil or under the bark of rotting logs.

General References

Byers, G.W. 1989. The Nannochoristidae of South America (Mecoptera). University of Kansas Science Bulletin 54: 25-34

Kristensen, N.P. 1989. The New Zealand scorpionfly (Nannochorista philpotti comb. n.): wing morphology and its phylogenetic significance. Zeitschrift für Zoologische Systematik und Evolutionsforschung 27: 106-114

Pilgrim, R.L.C. 1972. The aquatic larva and the pupa of Choristella philpotti Tillyard, 1917 (Mecoptera: Nannochoristidae). Pacific Insects 14: 151-168

Riek, E.F. 1954. The Australian Mecoptera or scorpion-flies. Australian Journal of Zoology 2: 143-168

Riek, E.F. 1970. Mecoptera. pp. 636-646 in CSIRO (ed.). The Insects of Australia. A textbook for students and research workers. Carlton : Melbourne University Press 1029 pp.

Tillyard, R.J. 1917. Studies in Australian Mecoptera. No. i. The new family Nannochoristidae, with descriptions of a new genus and four new species: and an appendix descriptive of a new genus and species from New Zealand. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 42: 284-301

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