Myrmeleontiformia

Silky lacewing Psychopsis insolens, copyright Shaun Winterton.

Belongs within: Neoneuroptera.
Contains: Nemopteridae, Ascalaphidae, Myrmeleontidae, Prohemerobiidae, Kalligrammatidae.

The Myrmeleontiformia are a lineage of lacewings including the ant-lions, owlflies and related taxa, united by the presence in larvae of a modified prementum resembling a labial palp segment, and by features of the adult genitalia (Grimaldi & Engel 2005). Members include the Psychopsidae, broad-winged lacewings found in the warmer regions of the Old World (New 1991).

Myrmeleontiformia [Myrmeleonides]
    |  i. s.: Siniphes Ren & Yin 2002 RY02
    |           `--*S. delicatus Ren & Yin 2002 RY02
    |--Myrmeleontoidea EWB18
    |    |  i. s.: Choromyrmeleon othneius WHW10
    |    |         Ascalochrysidae YM12
    |    |         Paleoleontidae [Palaeoleontinae] YM12
    |    |           |--Metahemerobius P02
    |    |           |--Palaeoleon ferrogeneticus GE05
    |    |           `--Samsonileon P02
    |    |--Rafaelanidae EWB18
    |    `--+--+--Nemopteridae EWB18
    |       |  `--+--Ascalaphidae GE05
    |       |     |--Myrmeleontidae EWB18
    |       |     `--Babinskaia RJ93 [Babinskaiidae GE05]
    |       |          `--B. pulchra Martins-Neto & Vulcano 1989 RJ93
    |       `--Nymphidae EWB18
    |            |  i. s.: Mesonymphes rohdendorfi P02
    |            |         Cratosmylinae EWB18
    |            |         Pronymphes P92
    |            |--Nymphinae [Nymphitidae] EWB18
    |            |    |--Nymphes myrmeleonoides WHW10
    |            |    `--Epigambria longipennis RJ93
    |            `--+--Myiodactylus [Myiodactylidae, Myiodactylinae] WHW10
    |               |    `--M. osmyloides WHW10
    |               `--+--Norfolius howensis WHW10, EWB18
    |                  `--Osmylops armatus WHW10
    `--Psychopsoidea [Psychopsiformia] EWB18
         |  i. s.: Saucrosmylidae [Saucrosmylinae] YM12
         |           |--Saucrosmylus Ren & Yin 2003 RY03
         |           |    `--*S. sambneurus Ren & Yin 2003 RY03
         |           |--Laccosmylus Ren & Yin 2003 RY03
         |           |    `--*L. calophlebius Ren & Yin 2003 RY03
         |           |--Rudiosmylus Ren & Yin 2003 RY03
         |           |    `--*R. ningchengensis Ren & Yin 2003 RY03
         |           `--Bellinympha Wang, Ren et al. in Wang, Liu et al. 2010 WL10
         |                |--*B. filicifolia Wang, Ren et al. in Wang, Liu et al. 2010 WL10
         |                `--B. dancei Wang, Ren et al. in Wang, Liu et al. 2010 WL10
         |--Panfiloviidae EWB18
         |    |--Panfilovia Makarkin 1980 R02
         |    |    `--P. acuminata RJ93
         |    `--Grammolingiidae EWB18
         |         |--Grammolingia Ren 2002 R02
         |         |    `--*G. boi Ren 2002 R02
         |         |--Leptolingia Ren 2002 R02
         |         |    |--*L. jurassica Ren 2002 R02
         |         |    `--L. tianyiensis Ren 2002 R02
         |         `--Litholingia Ren 2002 R02
         |              |--*L. rhora Ren 2002 R02
         |              |--L. eumorpha Ren 2002 R02
         |              `--L. polychotoma Ren 2002 R02
         `--+--Prohemerobiidae EWB18
            `--+--+--Kalligrammatidae EWB18
               |  `--Aetheogrammatidae EWB18
               `--+--Osmylopsychopidae [Brongniartiellidae, Osmylopsychopsidae] EWB18
                  |    |--Petropsychops superba GE05
                  |    |--Osmylopsychops spillerae R70a
                  |    |--Actinophlebia intermixta RJ93
                  |    `--Pterinoblattina pluma RJ93
                  `--Psychopsidae EWB18
                       |--Calopsychops extinctus P02
                       |--Kagapsychops continentalis P02
                       |--Notopsychops zebra (Brauer 1889) (see below for synonymy) HM55
                       |--Megapsychops illidgei N91
                       |--Wernzia maculipennis R70b
                       |--Triassopsychops superbus EWB18
                       |--Undulopsychopsis YM12
                       |--Propsychopsis P92
                       |--Silveira [Zygophlebiinae] WHW10
                       |    `--S. jordani WHW10
                       `--Psychopsis [Psychopsinae] N91
                            |--P. elegans RD77
                            |--P. gracilis RD77
                            |--P. insolens ZS10
                            |--P. maculipennis N91
                            |--P. margarita WHW10
                            `--P. mimica N91

Notopsychops zebra (Brauer 1889) [=Psychopsis zebra, Psychomorphe zebra, Zygophlebius zebra; incl. P. felina Navas 1912, Z. leoninus Navas 1910] HM55

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[EWB18] Engel, M. S., S. L. Winterton & L. C. V. Breitkreuz. 2018. Phylogeny and evolution of Neuropterida: where have wings of lace taken us? Annual Review of Entomology 63: 531–551.

[GE05] Grimaldi, D., & M. S. Engel. 2005. Evolution of the Insects. Cambridge University Press: New York.

[HM55] Handschin, E. & W. Markl. 1955. Neuropteren aus Angola. Diamang Publicações Culturais 27: 65–82.

[N91] New, T. R. 1991. Neuroptera (lacewings). In: CSIRO. The Insects of Australia: A textbook for students and research workers vol. 1 pp. 525–542. Melbourne University Press: Carlton (Victoria).

[P92] Poinar, G. O., Jr. 1992. Life in Amber. Stanford University Press: Stanford.

[P02] Ponomarenko, A. G. 2002. Superorder Myrmeleontidea Latreille, 1802 (=Neuropteroidea Handlirsch, 1903). In: Rasnitsyn, A. P. & D. L. J. Quicke (eds) History of Insects pp. 176–189. Kluwer Academic Publishers: Dordrecht.

[R02] Ren D. 2002. A new lacewing family (Neuroptera) from the Middle Jurassic of Inner Mongolia, China. Entomologica Sinica 9 (4): 53–67.

[RY02] Ren D. & Yin J.-C. 2002. A new genus and new species of lacewings in the Jurassic of China (Neuroptera: Myrmeleontoidea). Acta Zootaxonomica Sinica 27 (2): 269–273.

[RY03] Ren, D., & J. Yin. 2003. New ‘osmylid-like’ fossil Neuroptera from the Middle Jurassic of Inner Mongolia, China. Journal of the New York Entomological Society 111 (1): 1–11.

[RD77] Richards, O. W., & R. G. Davies. 1977. Imms' General Textbook of Entomology 10^th ed. vol. 2. Classification and Biology. Chapman and Hall: London.

[R70a] Riek, E. F. 1970a. Fossil history. In: CSIRO. The Insects of Australia: A textbook for students and research workers pp. 168–186. Melbourne University Press.

[R70b] Riek, E. F. 1970b. Neuroptera (lacewings). In: CSIRO. The Insects of Australia: A textbook for students and research workers pp. 472–494. Melbourne University Press.

[RJ93] Ross, A. J., & E. A. Jarzembowski. 1993. Arthropoda (Hexapoda; Insecta). In: Benton, M. J. (ed.) The Fossil Record 2 pp. 363–426. Chapman & Hall: London.

[WL10] Wang, Y., Z. Liu, X. Wang, C. Shih, Y. Zhao, M. S. Engel & D. Ren. 2010. Ancient pinnate leaf mimesis among lacewings. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 107 (37): 16212-16215.

[WHW10] Winterton, S. L., N. B. Hardy & B. M. Wiegmann. 2010. On wings of lace: phylogeny and Bayesian divergence time estimates of Neuropterida (Insecta) based on morphological and molecular data. Systematic Entomology 35: 349–378.

[YM12] Yang, Q., V. N. Makarkin, S. L. Winterton, A. V. Khramov & D. Ren. 2012. A remarkable new family of Jurassic insects (Neuroptera) with primitive wing venation and its phylogenetic position in Neuropterida. PLoS One 7 (9): e44762.

[ZS10] Zborowski, P., & R. Storey. 2010. A Field Guide to Insects in Australia 3^rd ed. Reed New Holland: Sydney.

Last updated: 3 April 2022.