Overview written by Trond Halvorson.

The order Mecoptera is an ancient and diverse group of insects represented by five families in North America. Abundant during the Permian, some believe ancestral Mecopterans to be the predecessors to Neuroptera, Lepidoptera, Trichoptera, Diptera, and Siphonaptera, although others contest that Neuroptera came first (Caron 1966). The center of distribution of Mecoptera in the United States is in the southern Appalachians (Byers 1969).

Five families occur in Tennessee and North Carolina. Family Meropeidae consists of one species in the area, which has been recorded in the park but there is no specimen. Family Boreidae consists of two species in the area. They do not have junctional wings and are found mainly on snow and moss in the winter. One species has been recorded in the park, and there is a specimen in the collection. The last two families, Bittacidae and Panorpidae, are larger and comprise the great majority of mecopterans in the area.

Despite this diversity, very little scientific attention has been paid to Mecopterans in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, as well as across the world. There are few authorities on the subject and pertinent literature is sparse. The museum collection at Great Smoky Mountains National Park contains very few mecopterans ansd almost no studies here have focused on this group. Since the park lies within a region that is believed to be one of the centers of mecopteran diversity, I initiated a twelve week study to 1) record their distribution across the park, suspicious that there were species present that had not been recorded, 2) expand the museum collection, 3) assess the relative abundances of all the Mecoptera taxa I could locate within the park, and 4) make pertinent behavioral observaions.

Last updated: July 7, 1999

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