''Alena'' is a genus of
snakeflies in the family
Raphidiidae. All species are
predator
Predation is a biological interaction in which one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common List of feeding behaviours, feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation ...
y, both as adults and
larva
A larva (; : larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into their next life stage. Animals with indirect development such as insects, some arachnids, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase ...
e. They occur in
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...
in the South-
Western United States
The Western United States (also called the American West, the Western States, the Far West, the Western territories, and the West) is List of regions of the United States, census regions United States Census Bureau.
As American settlement i ...
and Western to Central Mexico.
[Martins, C.C., Aspöck, H., Aspöck, U. & Contreras-Ramos, A.. 2022. Phylogeny and biogeography of the unique snakefly genus ''Alena'' Navás, 1916 (Raphidioptera: Raphidiidae). ''Arthropod Systematics & Phylogeny'' 80: 39-58]
PDF
/ref>
Systematics
At present 11 living species of ''Alena'' are known.
*''Alena''
**Subgenus ''Alena''
*** '' Alena (Alena) distincta'' (Banks, 1911)
**Subgenus ''Aztekoraphidia''
*** '' Alena (Aztekoraphidia) alanae'' Martins, Aspöck, Aspöck & Contreras-Ramos, 2022
*** '' Alena (Aztekoraphidia) australis'' (Banks, 1895)
*** '' Alena (Aztekoraphidia) caudata'' (Navás, 1914)
*** '' Alena (Aztekoraphidia) horstaspoecki'' U. Aspöck & Contreras-Ramos, 2004
*** '' Alena (Aztekoraphidia) infundibulata'' U. Aspöck et al., 1994
*** '' Alena (Aztekoraphidia) michoacana'' U. Aspöck & H. Aspöck, 2013
*** '' Alena (Aztekoraphidia) minuta'' (Banks, 1903)
*** '' Alena (Aztekoraphidia) schremmeri'' U. Aspöck et al., 1994
*** '' Alena (Aztekoraphidia) tenochtitlana'' U. Aspöck & H. Aspöck, 1978)
**Subgenus ''Mexicoraphidia''
*** '' Alena (Mexicoraphidia) americana'' (Carpenter, 1959)
References
Raphidioptera
Insects of North America
Insect genera
{{Raphidioptera-stub