A new group of insects for me. And a very impressive-looking one - note the scorpion-like tail. According to Myrmecos, "Mecoptera is an order of holometabolous insects containing a number of unusual taxa, including scorpionflies, hangingflies, and snow fleas." And from Wikipedia this interesting, if obscure, bit of evolutionary trivia-
Mecoptera have special importance in evolution of Insecta. Two of the most important insect orders, Lepidoptera and Diptera, along with Trichoptera, probably evolved from ancestors belonging to, or strictly related to, the Mecoptera.The Lepidoptera, of course, include the butterflies I like to blog.
Photo credit irenwulv, who saw the critter in Japan and posted it at Reddit.
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