Snakeflies
Known
to almost no one except professional entomologists and insect enthusiasts,
snakeflies (order Raphidioptera) constitute a small group of predatory insects.
The United States population is limited to areas west of the
Rocky Mountains, and consists of approximately twenty species that fit into two
families.
Raphidiidae, the largest family consists of two genera and
18 species. Square-headed snakeflies (family) Inocelliidae consists of one
genus (Negha) and three species.
The top picture shows a female, with ovipositor, in the
Agulla genus of the Raphidiidae family. The thin body and extended neck and
head explain the common name snakefly.
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