Megaloptera

New Zealand dobsonfly Archichauliodes diversus, copyright Steve Reekie.

Belongs within: Neuropterida.

The Megaloptera, alderflies and dobsonflies, are a group of long-winged insects with aquatic predatory larvae.

Characters (from Theischinger 1991): Mandibulate, endopterygote Neoptera, with two pairs of subequal, functional membranous wings and very soft abdomen. Larvae aquatic; mandibulate, with large prothorax, functional legs and lateral abdominal gills. Pupae decticous and exarate.

<==Megaloptera [Corydalida, Sialoidea]
    |  i. s.: Chauliosialis sukatshevae K-P91, S02
    |         Tychtodelopterum [Tychtodelopteridae] MW15
    |--Euchauliodes [Euchauliodidae] GE05
    |    `--E. distinctus K-P91
    |--Sialidae GE05
    |    |--Indosialis P02
    |    |--Austrosialis ignicollis T91, ZS10
    |    |--Stenosialis T91
    |    |--Protosialis R70
    |    |--Dobbertinia [Dobbertiniidae] GE05
    |    |    `--D. reticulata GE05
    |    `--Sialis Latreille 1802 L02
    |         |--*S. lutaria L02, VM20 [=Semblis lutaria L02]
    |         |--S. californica WHW10
    |         |--S. fuliginosa RD77
    |         |--S. hamata TW05
    |         |--S. mohri WHW10
    |         `--S. strausi S02
    `--Corydalidae GE05
         |  i. s.: Parachauliodes YS01
         |--+--Corydalus Latreille 1802 L02 [Corydalinae T91]
         |  |    |--*C. cornutus (Linnaeus 1758) L02, L58 [=Hemerobius cornutus L02]
         |  |    `--C. armatus WHW10
         |  `--Protohermes VM20
         |       |--P. grandis K-P83
         |       `--P. xanthodes VM20
         `--Chauliodinae [Chauliodidae] T91
              |  i. s.: Cretochaulus lacustris P02
              |         Neohermes californicus WHW10
              |         Nigronia WHW10
              |           |--N. fasciatus HR11
              |           `--N. serricornis WHW10
              `--Chauliodini R70
                   |--Chauliodes Latreille 1802 L02
                   |    |--*C. pectinicornis [=Hemerobius pectinicornis] L02
                   |    `--C. prisca Pictet 1854 P92
                   |--Protochauliodes T91
                   |    |--P. biconicus T91
                   |    `--P. kirramae T91
                   `--Archichauliodes T91
                        |  i. s.: A. dubitatis H74
                        |--A. (Archichauliodes) T91
                        |    |--A. (A.) anagaurus T91
                        |    |--A. (A.) deceptor T91
                        |    |--A. (A.) diversus T91
                        |    |--A. (A.) guttiferus T91
                        |    |--A. (A.) polypastus T91
                        |    `--A. (A.) uncinatus T91
                        `--A. (Apochauliodes) cervulus T91

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

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

[H74] Helson, G. A. H. 1974. Insect Pests: Identification, life history, and control of pests of farms, horticulture, gardens, and public health. A. R. Shearer, Government Printer: Wellington (New Zealand).

[HR11] Heraty, J., F. Ronquist, J. M. Carpenter, D. Hawks, S. Schulmeister, A. P. Dowling, D. Murray, J. Munro, W. C. Wheeler, N. Schiff & M. Sharkey. 2011. Evolution of the hymenopteran megaradiation. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 60: 73–88.

[K-P83] Kukalová-Peck, J. 1983. Origin of the insect wing and wing articulation from the arthropodan leg. Canadian Journal of Zoology 61: 1618–1669.

[K-P91] Kukalová-Peck, J. 1991. Fossil history and the evolution of hexapod structures. In: CSIRO. The Insects of Australia: A textbook for students and research workers vol. 1 pp. 141–179. Melbourne University Press: Carlton (Victoria).

[L02] Latreille, P. A. 1802. Histoire Naturelle, générale et particulière des crustacés et des insectes vol. 3. Familles naturelles des genres. F. Dufart: Paris.

[L58] Linnaeus, C. 1758. Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. Editio decima, reformata. Laurentii Salvii: Holmiae.

[MW15] McKenna, D. D., A. L. Wild, K. Kanda, C. L. Bellamy, R. G. Beutel, M. S. Caterino, C. W. Farnum, D. C. Hawks, M. A. Ivie, M. L. Jameson, R. A. B. Leschen, A. E. Marvaldi, J. V. McHugh, A. F. Newton, J. A. Robertson, M. K. Thayer, M. F. Whiting, J. F. Lawrence, A. Ślipiński, D. R. Maddison & B. D. Farrell. 2015. The beetle tree of life reveals that Coleoptera survived end-Permian mass extinction to diversify during the Cretaceous terrestrial revolution. Systematic Entomology 40 (4): 835–880.

[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.

[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.

[R70] Riek, E. F. 1970. Megaloptera (alderflies). In: CSIRO. The Insects of Australia: A textbook for students and research workers pp. 465–471. Melbourne University Press.

[S02] Sinitshenkova, N. D. 2002. Ecological history of the aquatic insects. In: Rasnitsyn, A. P., & D. L. J. Quicke (eds) History of Insects pp. 388–426. Kluwer Academic Publishers: Dordrecht.

[TW05] Terry, M. D., & M. F. Whiting. 2005. Mantophasmatodea and phylogeny of the lower neopterous insects. Cladistics 21: 240–257.

[T91] Theischinger, G. 1991. Megaloptera (alderflies, dobsonflies). In: CSIRO. The Insects of Australia: A textbook for students and research workers vol. 1 pp. 516–520. Melbourne University Press: Carlton (Victoria).

[VM20] Vasilikopoulos, A., B. Misof, K. Meusemann, D. Lieberz, T. Flouri, R. G. Beutel, O. Niehuis, T. Wappler, J. Rust, R. S. Peters, A. Donath, L. Podsiadlowski, C. Mayer, D. Bartel, A. Böhm, S. Liu, P. Kapli, C. Greve, J. E. Jepson, X. Liu, X. Zhou, H. Aspöck & U. Aspöck. 2020. An integrative phylogenomic approach to elucidate the evolutionary history and divergence times of Neuropterida (Insecta: Holometabola). BMC Evolutionary Biology 20: 64.

[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.

[YS01] Yoshizawa, K., & T. Saigusa. 2001. Phylogenetic analysis of paraneopteran orders (Insecta: Neoptera) based on forewing base structure with comments on monophyly of Auchenorrhycha (Hemiptera). Systematic Entomology 26: 1–13.

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