The insect order Neuroptera, or net-winged insects, includes the lacewings, mantidflies, antlions, and their relatives. The order consists of some 6,000 species. Neuroptera is grouped together with the Megaloptera and Raphidioptera (snakeflies) in the unranked taxon Neuropterida.
The antlions are a group of about 2,000 species of insect in the neuropteran family Myrmeleontidae. They are known for the predatory habits of their larvae, which mostly dig pits to trap passing ants or other prey. In North America, the larvae are sometimes referred to as doodlebugs because of the marks they leave in the sand. The adult insects are less well known due to their relatively short lifespans in comparison with the larvae. Adults, sometimes known as antlion lacewings, mostly fly at dusk or just after dark and may be mistakenly identified as dragonflies or damselflies.
Green lacewings are insects in the large family Chrysopidae of the order Neuroptera. There are about 85 genera and 1,300–2,000 species in this widespread group. Members of the genera Chrysopa and Chrysoperla are very common in North America and Europe; they are very similar and many of their species have been moved from one genus to the other time and again, and in the nonscientific literature assignment to Chrysopa and Chrysoperla can rarely be relied upon. Since they are the most familiar neuropterans to many people, they are often simply called "lacewings". Since most of the diversity of Neuroptera are properly referred to as some sort of "lacewing", common lacewings is preferable.
Megaloptera is an order of insects. It contains the alderflies, dobsonflies and fishflies, and there are about 300 known species.
Snakeflies are a group of predatory insects comprising the order Raphidioptera with two extant families: Raphidiidae and Inocelliidae, consisting of roughly 260 species. In the past, the group had a much wider distribution than it does now; snakeflies are found in temperate regions worldwide but are absent from the tropics and the Southern Hemisphere. Recognisable representatives of the group first appeared during the Early Jurassic. They are a relict group, having reached their apex of diversity during the Cretaceous before undergoing substantial decline.
Mantispidae, known commonly as mantidflies, mantispids, mantid lacewings, mantisflies or mantis-flies, is a family of small to moderate-sized insects in the order Neuroptera. There are many genera with around 400 species worldwide, especially in the tropics and subtropics. Only five species of Mantispa occur in Europe. As their names suggest, members of the group possess raptorial forelimbs similar to those of the praying mantis, a case of convergent evolution.
Ascalaphidae is a family of insects in the order Neuroptera, commonly called owlflies; there are some 450 extant species. They are fast-flying crepuscular or diurnal predators of other flying insects, and have large bulging eyes and strongly knobbed antennae. The larvae are ambush predators; some of them make use of self-decoration camouflage.
Hemerobiidae is a family of Neuropteran insects commonly known as brown lacewings, comprising about 500 species in 28 genera. Most are yellow to dark brown, but some species are green. They are small; most have forewings 4–10 mm long. These insects differ from the somewhat similar Chrysopidae not only by the usual coloring but also by the wing venation: hemerobiids differ from chrysopids in having numerous long veins and forked costal cross veins. Some genera are widespread, but most are restricted to a single biogeographical realm. Some species have reduced wings to the degree that they are flightless. Imagines (adults) of subfamily Drepanepteryginae mimic dead leaves. Hemerobiid larvae are usually less hairy than chrysopid larvae.
The Neuropterida are a clade, sometimes placed at superorder level, of holometabolous insects with over 5,700 described species, containing the orders Neuroptera, Megaloptera, and Raphidioptera (snakeflies).
Dilaridae is a family of Euneuropteran insects in the order Neuroptera, known as "pleasing lacewings". They were formerly placed in the paraphyletic superfamily Hemerobioidea, though the group is currently placed in the monophyletic superfamily Dilaroidea as a sister group to Mantispoidea and Osmyloidea.
The Nevrorthidae are a small family of lacewings in the order Neuroptera. There are 19 extant species in four genera, with a geographically disjunct distribution: Nevrorthus, comprising 5 species with scattered distributions around the Mediterranean; Austroneurorthus, with two species known from southeastern Australia; Nipponeurorthus, comprising 11 species known from China and Japan; and Sinoneurorthus, known from a single species described from Yunnan Province, China. They are traditionally placed in the Osmyloidea, alongside Osmylidae and the spongillaflies (Sisyridae), but some research has considered them to be the sister group to the rest of Neuroptera. The larvae have unique straight jaws that are curved at the tips, and live as unspecialised predators in the sandy bottom sediments of clear, fast flowing mountain rivers and streams. They pupate underwater on the underside of stones. The adults are likely predators or feed on honeydew and other sugar-rich fluids.
Nymphidae, sometimes called split-footed lacewings, are a family of winged insects of the order Neuroptera. There are 35 extant species native to Australia and New Guinea.
Psychopsidae is a family of winged insects of the order Neuroptera. They are commonly called silky lacewings.
Osmyloidea is a euneuropteran superfamily in the lacewing order Neuroptera sister to the superfamilies Dilaroidea, Mantispoidea, and the clade Neoneuroptera. The superfamily includes three living families and two extinct families described from the fossil record.
Myrmeleontiformia is an insect clade in the order Neuroptera, and which was historically treated as a suborder. The phylogeny of the Neuroptera has been explored using mitochondrial DNA sequences, and while issues remain for the order as a whole, such as "Hemerobiiformia" being paraphyletic, Myrmeleontiformia is generally agreed to be monophyletic, with one study giving the following cladogram:
Coniopterygoidea is a superfamily in the lacewing order Neuroptera which is considered the sister group to all other neuropteran clades. The superfamily includes the single living family Coniopterygidae (dustywings). In past classifications, Coniopterygoidea was expanded to include Sisyridae (spongillaflies) and placed in the paraphyletic suborder Hemerobiiformia.
Mantispoidea is a superfamily of euneuropteran insects in the order Neuroptera. The group was formerly placed in the paraphyletic suborder Hemerobiiformia, but is now considered sister to the superfamilies Dilaroidea and Osmyloidea. Mantispoidea contains three living families and one extinct family described from the fossil record.
Araripenymphes is an extinct genus of lacewing which lived during the Cretaceous period of South America and Asia. The type species is A. seldeni from the Crato Formation of Brazil. The two other species are A. burmanus from the Burmese amber of Myanmar and A. koreicus from the Jinju Formation of South Korea.
Cordulecerus is a genus of owlflies, neuropteran insects in the subfamily Ascalaphinae. Species are found in Central and South America.
Ululodes is a genus of owlflies in the tribe Ululodini. There are at least 27 described species in Ululodes.
