THE BIOLOGY OF BRACHYPANORPA 
(MECOPTERA)i 
By F. M. Carpenter 
Harvard University 
The Genus Brachypanorpa, as now known, consists of 
only three species, all confined to the United States : one in 
the southern Appalachian region and two in the north- 
western region. The distinctive features of the genus are 
the absence of the long rostrum characteristic of other 
Mecoptera and the reduction of the wings in the females. 
The most closely related genus — and indeed the only one 
which shows any affinities at all with Brachypanorpa — is 
Panorpocles, known only from Japan. The species of the 
latter, however, possess a distinct rostrum and fully de- 
veloped wings in both sexes. 
Virtually nothing has been known of the general biology 
of either of these two genera. Japanese entomologists have 
attempted to rear larvae of Panorpodes, but without suc- 
cess. During the past two years Dr. F. Y. Cheng and I 
have made observations on the habits of Brachypanorpa 
carolinensis , both in the field and laboratory, and have been 
able to work out part of its life-history. The present paper 
includes our observations on the adults of this insect and 
brings together some notes on the distribution of all three 
species of the genus. In another paper Dr. Cheng will give 
an account of the larva of carolinensis. 
Brachypanorpa carolinensis (Banks) ^ 
This species was first taken by William Beutenmiiller in 
the Black Mountains, North Carolina, on May 26, 1903, 
and was described by Banks in 1905 (as Panorpodes caro- 
linensis) from seven males in Beutenmiiller’s collection. 
^ Published with a grant from the Museum of Comparative Zoology 
at Harvard College. 
For the nomenclature of Brachypanorpa, see my ravision of the 
Nearctic Mecoptera (Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 72:205-277, 1931). 
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