''Nemoptera'' is a

Palearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Sibe ...

genus of

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs ...

s of the spoonwing 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 been ...

. All species are diurnal with an exclusively floral diet, preferring to fly in open spaces in full sunshine while visiting flowers. They can be recognized by their very long hind wing prolongations.

Taxonomy

The genus contains seven species, three of which are found in Europe. * '' Nemoptera aegyptiaca'' Rambur, 1842 * '' Nemoptera alba'' Olivier, 1811 * '' Nemoptera bipennis'' (Illiger, 1812), syn. ''Nemoptera lusitanica'' (Leach, 1815) * '' Nemoptera coa'' (

Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...

, 1758) * '' Nemoptera orientalis'' Olivier in Bonnaterre et al., 1828 * '' Nemoptera rachelii'' U. Aspöck et al., 2006 * '' Nemoptera sinuata'' Olivier, 1811 The African species '' Nemia karrooa'' was formerly placed in this genus.Illustrated database of Neuroptera (insects) - ''Nemoptera karrooa''
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References

External links

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Taxonomicon - Genus ''Nemoptera''
Neuroptera Neuroptera genera {{Neuroptera-stub