| Platyneuromus | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Male Platyneuromus soror from Costa Rica. Note the large postocular flanges. | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Megaloptera |
| Family: | Corydalidae |
| Subfamily: | Corydalinae |
| Genus: | Platyneuromus Weele 1909 |
Platyneuromus is a genus of dobsonflies in the family Corydalidae. They are found in Mexico and Central America.
Platyneuromus adults have a distinctive appearance. Unlike dobsonflies of the genus Corydalus , in which males often develop large mandibles, adults have large postocular flanges behind the eyes. Males have mandibles of similar size to females, but often have disproportionately larger flanges, possibly a result of sexual selection. [1] The postocular flanges are also visible in the pupae, facilitating diagnosis of the genus. Male forewing length ranges from 26–59 mm. [2]
Larvae are typical hellgrammites, and fill a similar ecological niche to larvae of Corydalus and other genera. There appears to be an altitudinal gradient between Platyneuromus and Corydalus in Mexico. At low elevations (about 500 m), under a semiarid climate, only C. luteus Hagen is found. At mid elevations (about 750 m), within forested vegetation, both C. luteus and P. soror co-occur, but higher up (ca. 1400 m), only P. soror is nearly always collected. [2]
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 can be grouped together with the Megaloptera and Raphidioptera in the unranked taxon Neuropterida including: alderflies, fishflies, dobsonflies, and snakeflies.
Megaloptera is an order of insects. It contains the alderflies, dobsonflies and fishflies, and there are about 300 known species.
Dobsonflies are a subfamily of insects, Corydalinae, part of the Megalopteran family Corydalidae. The larvae are aquatic, living in streams, and the adults are often found along streams as well. The nine genera of dobsonflies are distributed in the Americas, Asia, and South Africa.
The eastern dobsonfly, Corydalus cornutus, is a large insect in the Corydalidae family. It is found in eastern North America in regions with fast-flowing streams where its aquatic larvae develop. These are known as hellgrammites and are among the top invertebrate predators in the streams in which they live. They are used by anglers as bait.
Corydalus is a genus of large flying insects in the Corydalidae family, commonly known as dobsonflies. They are endemic to North, Central and South America and there are about 35 known species. Members of the genus have wing lengths of up to 85 millimetres. They are sexually dimorphic, with the males having large mandibles used to grasp the females during mating while the females have smaller jaws. The larvae are known as hellgrammites and are aquatic predators.
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. They are a relict group and have been considered living fossils, as species from the early Jurassic period closely resemble modern-day species.
Antillocladius is a genus of midges belonging to the family Chironomidae, subfamily Orthocladiinae. The name Antillocladius means orthoclad that occurs in the Antilles, where it was primarily recorded.
Fishflies are members of the subfamily Chauliodinae, belonging to the megalopteran family Corydalidae. They are most easily distinguished from their closest relatives, dobsonflies, by the jaws (mandibles) and antennae. In contrast to the large jaws of dobsonflies, fishfly mandibles are not particularly noticeable or distinctive, and the males have feathery antennae similar to many large moths. Chauliodes pectinicornis, the "summer fishfly", is a well-known species in North America.
The family Corydalidae contains the megalopterous insects known as dobsonflies and fishflies. Making up about one dozen genera, they occur primarily throughout the Northern Hemisphere, both temperate and tropical, and South America.
The mandible of an arthropod is a pair of mouthparts used either for biting or cutting and holding food. Mandibles are often simply referred to as jaws. Mandibles are present in the extant subphyla Myriapoda, Crustacea and Hexapoda. These groups make up the clade Mandibulata, which is currently believed to be the sister group to the rest of arthropods, the clade Arachnomorpha.
The Glossosomatidae are a family of the class Insecta and order Trichoptera.The family contains 23 genera in three subfamilies. In the US alone, there are 76 spp. in 6 different genera.
Alderflies are megalopteran insects of the family Sialidae. They are closely related to the dobsonflies and fishflies as well as to the prehistoric Euchauliodidae. All living alderflies – about 66 species all together – are part of the subfamily Sialinae, which contains between one and seven extant genera according to different scientists' views.
Ant nest beetles or paussines, some members of which are known also as flanged bombardier beetles, are a large subfamily within the ground beetles (Carabidae). The tribes Metriini, Ozaenini, Paussini and Protopaussini are included in the subfamily.
The marsh bluet is a damselfly species in the family Coenagrionidae.
The boreal bluet is a species of damselfly in the family Coenagrionidae.
Xanthotaenia is a monotypic butterfly genus in the family Nymphalidae. Its single species is Xanthotaenia busiris, the yellow-banded nymph. They can be identified by a yellow strip along their forewings.
Archichauliodes diversus is an insect in the subfamily Chauliodinae - the fishflies, though it is often referred to as the New Zealand dobsonfly, despite not being a true dobsonfly. In its larval form it is commonly known by the name toe-biter, and its Maori name is puene. The species is native to New Zealand. Although there are many other species of fishfly in other parts of the world, Archichauliodes diversus is the only species of fishfly in New Zealand.
Corydalus affinis is a species of dobsonfly in the genus Corydalus. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, and Venezuela. It is found mainly in Amazonian lowlands. Forewing length ranges from 32-58 millimeters, with the females slightly larger than the males.
Acanthacorydalis fruhstorferi is a species of dobsonfly native to China. It holds the title of largest aquatic insect by wingspan according to the Guinness Book of World Records at 21.6 cm. The title formerly belonged to the Brazilian damselfly Microstigma rotundatum.
Neoneuromus is a genus of dobsonfly endemic to the Oriental Realm with 13 species. The larvae breed in montane streams. Adults are large with a forewing of 43 to 68 mm length and the body is yellow to red or brown with black marks on the head and pronotum. The wings are marked in dark patterning in the membrane and along the veins. They are closely related to Nevromus from which they are separated by the attenuation of the 9th sternum with an incised tip.