Examine individual changes

'{{Automatic taxobox | taxon = Boreidae | fossil_range = {{fossilrange|Tithonian|Present|[[Late Jurassic]] to [[Present]]}} |authority=| image = Boreus hyemalis female.jpg | image_caption = ''Boreus hiemalis'' | subdivision_ranks = Genera | subdivision = *''[[Boreus]]'' *''[[Caurinus]]'' *''[[Hesperoboreus]]'' }} '''Boreidae''', commonly called '''snow scorpionflies''', or in the [[British Isles]], '''snow fleas''' (no relation to the snow flea ''[[Hypogastrura nivicola]]'') are a very small family of [[Scorpionfly|scorpionflies]], containing only around 30 species, all of which are [[boreal ecosystem|boreal]] or high-altitude species in the [[Northern Hemisphere]]. Recent research indicates the boreids are more closely related to [[flea]]s than to other scorpionflies, which renders the order [[Mecoptera]] [[paraphyletic]] if the order [[Siphonaptera]] is excluded from it.<ref name="Fleas">{{cite journal| author=Whiting, M. F.|title=Mecoptera is paraphyletic: multiple genes and phylogeny of Mecoptera and Siphonaptera |year = 2002 | journal = Zoologica Scripta |volume = 31 |issue = 1 |pages = 93–104 |doi=10.1046/j.0300-3256.2001.00095.x|url=https://semanticscholar.org/paper/d3537d8be461ca0419bc02920d0f4d69b50c0214 }}</ref> These insects are small (typically 6&nbsp;mm or less), with the wings reduced to bristles or absent, and they are somewhat compressed, so in fact some resemblance to fleas is noted. They are most commonly active during the winter months, towards the transition into spring, and the larvae and adults typically feed on mosses. The adults will often disperse between breeding areas by walking across the open snow, thus the common name. The males use their bristle-like wings to help grasp the female over his back while mating, while the wings of females are vestigial small oval pads with no ability to allow her to fly. The adults have a long [[Rostrum (anatomy)|rostrum]] formed from the [[clypeus (arthropod anatomy)|clypeus]] and [[labrum (arthropod mouthpart)|labrum]], [[genae]], and [[maxillo-labium]]. The body temperature, and therefore activity level, of this scorpionfly depends on its absorption of short-wave and long-wave radiation rather than surrounding air temperatures (by which it is completely unaffected). The boundary layer of snow that the insect occupies has very low thermal conductance, and so the insect loses its own heat very slowly here. This delicate balance between cold and heat means that the animal is easily killed by heat when held in a human hand.<ref>{{cite book|author=Daniel Marlos|title=The Curious World of Bugs: The Bugman's Guide to the Mysterious and Remarkable Lives of Things That Crawl|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=icyVPVBVnUQC&pg=PT218|date=2010-10-05|publisher=Penguin Publishing Group|isbn=978-1-101-44406-1|page=218}}</ref> == Phylogeny == The [[cladogram]] of external relationships, based on a 2008 [[DNA]] and [[protein]] analysis, shows the family as a [[clade]], [[sister group|sister]] to the [[Siphonaptera]], and more distantly related to the [[Diptera]] (true flies) and [[Mecoptera]] (scorpionflies).<ref name=Whiting2008>{{cite journal |last1=Whiting |first1=Michael F. |last2=Whiting |first2=Alison S. |last3=Hastriter |first3=Michael W. |last4=Dittmar |first4=Katharina |title=A molecular phylogeny of fleas (Insecta: Siphonaptera): origins and host associations |journal=Cladistics |date=2008 |volume=24 |issue=5 |pages=677–707 |doi=10.1111/j.1096-0031.2008.00211.x |citeseerx=10.1.1.731.5211 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Yeates |first1=David K. |last2=Wiegmann |first2=Brian |title=Endopterygota Insects with complete metamorphosis |url=http://tolweb.org/Endopterygota/8243 |website=Tree of Life |accessdate=24 May 2016}}</ref><ref name=Whiting2002>{{cite journal |last1=Whiting |first1=Michael F. |year=2002 |title=Mecoptera is paraphyletic: multiple genes and phylogeny of Mecoptera and Siphonaptera |journal=Zoologica Scripta |volume=31 |issue=1 |pages=93–104 |url=http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/118916123/abstract |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130105095659/http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/118916123/abstract |url-status=dead |archive-date=2013-01-05 |doi=10.1046/j.0300-3256.2001.00095.x }}</ref><ref name=WiegmannYates2012>{{cite book |last1=Wiegmann |first1=Brian |last2=Yeates |first2=David K. |title=The Evolutionary Biology of Flies |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rElP5sNn6IYC&pg=PA5 |year=2012 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-231-50170-5 |page=5}}</ref> {{clade |label1=[[Panorpida]] |1={{clade |label1=[[Antliophora]] |1={{clade |1=[[Diptera]] (true flies) [[File:Common house fly, Musca domestica.jpg|70px]] |label2=[[Mecopteroidea]] |2={{clade |1=[[Nannochoristidae]] |2={{clade |1=[[Mecoptera]] (scorpionflies, hangingflies) (exc. Boreidae & Nannochoristidae) [[File:Gunzesrieder Tal Insekt 3.jpg|90px]] |2={{clade |1='''Boreidae''' (snow scorpionflies) [[File:Boreus hiemalis2 detail.jpg|85px]] |2=[[Siphonaptera]] (fleas) [[File:Pulex irritans female ZSM.jpg|50px]] }} }} }} }} |label2=[[Amphiesmenoptera]] |2={{clade |1=[[Trichoptera]] (caddisflies) [[File:Sericostoma.personatum.jpg|70px]] |2=[[Lepidoptera]] (butterflies and moths) [[File:Tyria jacobaeae-lo.jpg|40px]] }} }} }} == Genera == This list is adapted from the ''World Checklist of extant Mecoptera species'',<ref name="Cat1997">[http://www.calacademy.org/research/entomology/Entomology_Resources/mecoptera/boreidae.htm Boreidae] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20040111035237/http://www.calacademy.org/research/entomology/Entomology_Resources/mecoptera/boreidae.htm |date=2004-01-11 }}</ref> and is complete as of 1997. The number of species in each genus is indicated in parentheses. * ''[[Boreus]]'' (24) <small>Latreille, 1816</small> (North America, Europe, Asia) ** ''[[Boreus hyemalis]]'' - also called the snow flea. * ''[[Caurinus]]'' (2) <small>Russell, 1979</small> (Oregon, Alaska)<ref>{{cite journal|last=Sikes|first=Derek|author2=Jill Stockbridge |title=Description of Caurinus tlagu, new species, from Prince of Wales Island, Alaska (Mecoptera, Boreidae, Caurininae)|journal=ZooKeys|date=July 11, 2013|issue=316|pages=35–53|doi=10.3897/zookeys.316.5400|url=https://www.pensoft.net/journals/zookeys/article/5400/description-of-caurinus-tlagu-new-species-from-prince-of-wales-island-alaska-mecoptera-boreidae-caurininae-|pmid=23878513|pmc=3713333}}</ref> * ''[[Hesperoboreus]]'' (2) <small>Penny, 1977</small> (USA) == See also == * [[Glacier flea]] * [[Snow flies]] genus ''Chionea'' - a [[Convergent evolution|convergent]] genus of wingless [[crane fly|crane flies]] * [[Apteropanorpidae]] - another family of wingless scorpionflies == References == {{Reflist}} {{Mecoptera & Siphonaptera}} {{Taxonbar|from=Q2004861}} [[Category:Mecoptera]]'