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Panorpa vulgaris copula A somewhat older image showing a copula with the following details:<br /> - the female (on the right) is chewing away a dead insect provided to her as a &quot;nuptial gift&quot;<br /> - meantime the male (on the left) is producing a blob of salival mass to give to her when she is done eating the initial nuptial gift, so the copula may be continued.<br /> The image below shows another tactic of the male: Clamping the wing of the female with his notal organ so she can&#039;t get away:<br /> <figure class="photo"><a href="https://www.jungledragon.com/image/62386/panorpa_vulgaris_in_copula_-_notal_organ_and_salival_mass_nuptial_gift.html" title="Panorpa vulgaris in copula - notal organ and salival mass nuptial gift"><img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.jungledragon.com/images/3043/62386_thumb.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=05GMT0V3GWVNE7GGM1R2&Expires=1663804810&Signature=rrNjtVeu44V3ikkd4XiZoQBkl8k%3D" width="200" height="150" alt="Panorpa vulgaris in copula - notal organ and salival mass nuptial gift Image of a copula of Panorpa vulgaris showing some interesting details:<br /> <br /> Circle: The male is clamping the fore wing of the female with his notal organ. This prevents her from breaking up the copula (she would damage her wing!)<br /> <br /> White blob: Male Scorpionflies will provide a female with a nuptial gift in the form of some dead insect for her to consume during copula. In order to make the copula last longer the male can also produce blobs of salival mass during copula and offer these to her when the dead insect is finished. In this image I had disturbed the lovers a tad so they had turned around, hence the salival mass is now behind them, but normally would be in front of the female ready for her to consume.<br /> Copulation,Meadow Scorpionfly,Mecoptera,Panorpa,Panorpa ID help,Panorpa vulgaris,Panorpidae,Scorpionfly,nuptial gift" /></a></figure><br /> <br /> This image was used in the following publications:<br /> Sara Lewis &amp; Adam South (2012) The Evolution of Animal Nuptial Gifts<br /> <a href="https://ase.tufts.edu/biology/labs/lewis/publications/documents/2012LewisSouth_Advances.pdf" rel="nofollow">https://ase.tufts.edu/biology/labs/lewis/publications/documents/2012LewisSouth_Advances.pdf</a><br /> <br /> Lewis, Sara &amp; South, Adam &amp; Burns, Robert &amp; Al-Wathiqui, Nooria. (2011). Nuptial gifts. Current biology : CB. 21. R644-5.<br /> <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/51645068_Nuptial_gifts" rel="nofollow">https://www.researchgate.net/publication/51645068_Nuptial_gifts</a> Copulation,Meadow Scorpionfly,Mecoptera,Panorpa,Panorpa vulgaris,Panorpidae,Scorpionfly,nuptial gift Click/tap to enlarge

Panorpa vulgaris copula

A somewhat older image showing a copula with the following details:
- the female (on the right) is chewing away a dead insect provided to her as a "nuptial gift"
- meantime the male (on the left) is producing a blob of salival mass to give to her when she is done eating the initial nuptial gift, so the copula may be continued.
The image below shows another tactic of the male: Clamping the wing of the female with his notal organ so she can't get away:

Panorpa vulgaris in copula - notal organ and salival mass nuptial gift Image of a copula of Panorpa vulgaris showing some interesting details:<br /> <br /> Circle: The male is clamping the fore wing of the female with his notal organ. This prevents her from breaking up the copula (she would damage her wing!)<br /> <br /> White blob: Male Scorpionflies will provide a female with a nuptial gift in the form of some dead insect for her to consume during copula. In order to make the copula last longer the male can also produce blobs of salival mass during copula and offer these to her when the dead insect is finished. In this image I had disturbed the lovers a tad so they had turned around, hence the salival mass is now behind them, but normally would be in front of the female ready for her to consume.<br /> Copulation,Meadow Scorpionfly,Mecoptera,Panorpa,Panorpa ID help,Panorpa vulgaris,Panorpidae,Scorpionfly,nuptial gift


This image was used in the following publications:
Sara Lewis & Adam South (2012) The Evolution of Animal Nuptial Gifts
https://ase.tufts.edu/biology/labs/lewis/publications/documents/2012LewisSouth_Advances.pdf

Lewis, Sara & South, Adam & Burns, Robert & Al-Wathiqui, Nooria. (2011). Nuptial gifts. Current biology : CB. 21. R644-5.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/51645068_Nuptial_gifts

    comments (5)

  1. View Ernst's profile
    Ernst
    Lion
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    Lots of tricks up his sleeve. Posted one year ago
    1. View Pudding4brains's profile
      Pudding4brains
      Lion
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      I think the term "cunning plan" must have originated from the Panorpidae ;o) Posted one year ago
    2. View Ferdy Christant's profile
      Ferdy Christant
      Lion
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      I'll add an even more astounding one. For some species of Scorpionfly, weak males pretend to be a female. Then they get a food gift from a strong male, and take this gift to a real female. Posted one year ago
      1. View Pudding4brains's profile
        Pudding4brains
        Lion
        View Lion class
        Linke I said - cunning! ;-P Posted one year ago
        1. View Ferdy Christant's profile
          Ferdy Christant
          Lion
          View Lion class
          Did I explain behavior you already mentioned? Is that what cunning means? Posted one year ago

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The Meadow Scorpionfly

Panorpa vulgaris is a very common species of Scorpionfly in Northwest Europe. For a long time it was taken to be a synonym of Panorpa communis, but in the 70's of the last century it was demonstrated that the two are reproductivly isolated. Panorpa vulgaris is the most thermophile of the northern European Scorpionsflies and can more readily be found in open sunny meadows whereas the others prefer more shaded environments.

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Similar species: Scorpionflies And Allies
Species identified by Pudding4brains
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By Pudding4brains

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Uploaded Oct 26, 2020.
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