Mecoptera
are small to medium sized slender insects with long filiform antennae. The
head is extended into a deflexed rostrum or beak with biting mouthparts
at its end and is not broader than the front of the thorax, the eyes are
prominent and semi-globose. The legs are long and slender, as are the 2
pairs of nearly equal wings which are also membraneous and clear with various
dark patterns. The larva are generally eruciform (like a catapillar), but
may be modified scarabeiform (grub like, with a well developed head, a thick
cylindrical body and 3 pairs of thoracic legs, but no prolegs) i.e. Boridae
and Panorpidae, or campodeiform (elongate and flattened with well developed
legs and antennae) as in the Nanochoristidae. They have biting mouth parts
and 3 pairs of thoracic legs. The pupa is exarate (having its appendages
i.e. legs antennae etc. free outside of the main body of the pupa) and dectitious
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