Myrmeleontiformia is an insect

clade A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English term, ...

in the order Neuroptera, and which was historically treated as a suborder. The

phylogeny A phylogenetic tree (also phylogeny or evolutionary tree Felsenstein J. (2004). ''Inferring Phylogenies'' Sinauer Associates: Sunderland, MA.) is a branching diagram or a tree showing the evolutionary relationships among various biological spec ...

of the Neuroptera has been explored using

mitochondrial DNA Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA or mDNA) is the DNA located in mitochondria, cellular organelles within eukaryotic cells that convert chemical energy from food into a form that cells can use, such as adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial D ...

sequences, and while issues remain for the order as a whole, such as "

Hemerobiiformia The Hemerobiiformia are a suborder of insects in the order Neuroptera. The phylogeny of the Neuroptera was explored in 2014 using mitochondrial DNA sequences. The results indicate that the traditional Hemerobiiformia are paraphyletic, meaning ...

" being

paraphyletic In taxonomy (general), taxonomy, a group is paraphyletic if it consists of the group's most recent common ancestor, last common ancestor and most of its descendants, excluding a few Monophyly, monophyletic subgroups. The group is said to be pa ...

, Myrmeleontiformia is generally agreed to be

monophyletic In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic gro ...

, with one study giving the following

cladogram A cladogram (from Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an evolutionary tree because it does not show how ancestors are related to d ...

Superfamilies and families

Clade Myrmeleontiformia * Superfamily

Myrmeleontoidea Myrmeleontoidea is a neuropteran superfamily in the clade Myrmeleontiformia. Engel, Winteron, and Breitkreuz (2018) included the following families: Superfamily Myrmeleontoidea (syn Nemopteroidea) * Family Ascalaphidae: owlflies (possibly in ...

(syn Nemopteroidea) ** Family

Ascalaphidae 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 ...

: owlflies (possibly in Myrmeleontoidea) ** Family †

Babinskaiidae Babinskaiidae is an extinct family of neuropterans known from the Cretaceous period. They are part of the superfamily Myrmeleontoidea. Their distinguishing characters include: "long filiform antennae, narrowly elongated wings, with features suc ...

** Family

Myrmeleontidae 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 ...

: antlions (includes Palaeoleontidae) ** Family

Nemopteridae Nemopteridae, the spoonwings, are a family of neuropteran insects. They are also called thread-winged antlions. They are found in the Ethiopian, Palearctic, Australasian and Neotropical realms but absent in North America (though a fossil has bee ...

: spoonwings etc (formerly in Myrmeleontoidea) ** Family

Nymphidae 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. Nymphidae stand somewhat apart from other living Myrmeleontoidea. The ...

: split-footed lacewings (includes Myiodactylidae) ** Family † Rafaelianidae * Superfamily Psychopsoidea ** Family † Aetheogrammatidae ** Family †

Kalligrammatidae Kalligrammatidae, sometimes known as kalligrammatids or kalligrammatid lacewings, is a family of extinct insects in the order Neuroptera (lacewings) that contains twenty genera and a number of species. The family lived from the Middle Jurassic t ...

** Family † Osmylopsychopidae ( syn †Brongniartiellidae) ** Family † Panfiloviidae (syn † Grammosmylidae) ** Family † Prohemerobiidae ** Family

Psychopsidae Psychopsidae is a family (biology), family of Pterygota, winged insects of the order (biology), order Neuroptera. They are commonly called silky lacewings. The silky lacewings are distinguishable in their adult stage by their spectacularly patte ...

: silky lacewings

References

External links

* {{Neuroptera-stub