Commonly misidentified and superficially "Homologous" taxa relating to Scorpionflies (Mecoptera)
PANORPIDAE:
Compsocryptus texensis (https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/298968-Compsocryptus-texensis) - Panorpa nuptialis (https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/84332-Panorpa-nuptialis)
Trogomorpha arrogans (https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/264823-Trogomorpha-arrogans) - Panorpa nuptialis (https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/84332-Panorpa-nuptialis)
Limonethe maurator (https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/461267-Limonethe-maurator) - Panorpa lugubris (https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/120295-Panorpa-lugubris)
Protichneumon grandis (https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/180356-Protichneumon-grandis) - Panorpa lugubris (https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/120295-Panorpa-lugubris)
Acrotaphus wiltii (https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/366777-Acrotaphus-wiltii) - Panorpa ssp. (https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/51701-Panorpa)
Synanthedon aceri (https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/126970-Synanthedon-acerni) - Panorpa ssp. (https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/51701-Panorpa)
Banksiola dossuaria (https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/214850-Banksiola-dossuaria) - Panorpa ssp. (https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/51701-Panorpa)
Unidentified barklouse (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/177027184) (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/200452866) - Panorpa ssp. (https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/51701-Panorpa)
BITTACIDAE:
Tipulomorpha ssp. (https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/179916-Tipulomorpha) - Bittacidae ssp. (https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/49363-Bittacidae)
Comments
@stevenw12339 Not a complete list, but the ones from memory
Could you please elaborate, because it's confusing for me, braconids are clearly mimicking some aculeat wasps, same with the ichneumonid wasp from your first example, it mimics a pompilid wasp. It'd be easier to say some bright-coloured Panorpa are mimicking wasps.
Precisely why I have potential, my language is definitely lacking brevity. What I mean is that each of the taxa simply have morphological or behavioral aspects that are similar to the other taxon. For example Synanthedon aceri has a common morph that has an enlarged orange tuft at the end of it's tail (like a genital bulb), an orange head and yellowish body (common in many northeastern Panorpa) and black wing bands and spots (common in Panorpidae in general). I'm not specifically saying that Synanthedon aceri mimics Panorpa, or vice versa. But what I am pointing out is that there are similarities, that they are often misidentified as eachother, and (at least with some) seem to act similar in habitus. Eventually I would like to do some research to firm up or dissolve their visual and morphological similarities as it would be quite interesting if scorpionflies mimicked other insects or vice versa. On a quick side not the Bittacid genus Eremobittacus may mimic some wasp species in habitus, but that I believe is also unresolved.
Sorry that was a bit weirdly written, hopefully that made sense? How would you suggest I rename the post to make it more accurate to what I mean (if I should).
Ah, got it! You can call them look-alikes or commonly misidentified unrelated taxa.
Thanks for the advice! I've also edited list a bit since some of the wasps are definitely less "Homologous" than others
It also now actually makes sense to include associations like Tipulomorphs and Bittacids lol
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