Panorpa spp genital bulbs with hypovalves

Rather old collage of some morphological traits to help in IDing Panorpa spp of northwest Europe.

Left: Panporpa communis/vulgaris; Hypovalves (top) long, slender and bend inward at the apex, notal organ small, last abdominal segments cylindrical

Center: Panorpa cognata; Hypovalves long, slender and straight, notal organ small, last abdominal segments with "spoiler" on hind margin

Right: Panorpa germanica; Hypovalves short, broad and straight, notal organ very prominent, last abdominal segments cylindrical

Explanation:

The notal organ is a "clamp" located dorsally on the hind margin of the 3rd abdominal tergite that is used to firmly hold the wing of the female during copula preventing her from pulling loose without risk of damaging her wing.

Panorpa cognata is the only species in northwest Europe with the modified last abdominal segments shown here. In the south there are more species in the cognata-group that have this trait, but in the north it is a great help in identification.

Panorpa communis and vulgaris have long been seen as synonymous and are quite hard to separate on morphological characters. The male genitalia are slightly different internally and there is some difference in wing length and patterns. For this collage they would be inseparable.