Panorpa vulgaris

P. vulgaris are commonly distributed throughout central Europe.[5] They prefer dry and warm habitats that provide shade at high temperatures[6] and are most abundant along the edges of low-lying shrubs.[7] Despite their environmental preference, smaller populations do occur in forested areas that experience moist and cool conditions.[6]

Individuals of both sexes are capable of foraging for food, they are heavily influenced by their environments.[12] Intraspecific and interspecific competition is common between and within both sexes when food sources are limited.[10] Both larvae and adults typically feed on dead arthropods, and adults are often kleptoparasites of spider webs.[10] Adults are generally capable of avoiding spiderwebs when feeding on prey.[10] Males will use their genital claspers and females will use their abdomens to remove prey from spider webs and will even strike spiders who attempt to interfere with them.[10]

The meadow scorpionfly develops two separate generations per year,[6] one generation that undergoes overwintering in early spring and another that experiences a diapause free-developing stage in the summer.[6][13] During their lifecycle individuals can survive up to two months.[14]^][15]

Females meadow scorpionflies are known to be polyandrous, allowing them to make multiple mating attempts with numerous males.[16] Some females have shown evidence of being capable of mating with up to nine different males.[12][16] During mating, males will attach themselves to one of the females forewings with their genital claspers to remain connected until copulation is complete.[17] Male meadow scorpionflies provide nuptial gifts for their female counterparts.[12][10] The gifts males provide are a series of salivary secretions and different types of carrion that the females will ingest as a nutrient source.[10][16] In the males first generation salivary secretions are the main source of nuptial gifting.[10] During the second generation male salivary protein structures become depleted,[9] resulting in the use of carrion.[10] These nuptial gifts are both a mating effort and a form of paternal investment.[16] The duration of copulation between males and females is determined by the amount of saliva a male is able to produce.[12] While mating males will continuously transfer sperm to females until nuptial gifts are completely consumed.[16] The sperm transferred by males will eventually compete with other ejaculates from other males by the means of the raffle principle.[16] Since saliva production is a significant energy investment, it can be a quality indicator of male health.[15][12] Females will further discriminate between different males based on the amount of saliva provided.[12] The amount of saliva a female receives during mating directly influences the amount of offspring she is able to produce.[16] Males will also be selective of females based on the amount of offspring a female will be able to produce.[15][12][16] Inherently, males are capable of influencing the quality or the amount of ejaculate that they provide to females based on their bias.[12]