Myrmeleontoidea is a
neuroptera
The insect order (biology), 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 (alderflies, f ...
n superfamily in the clade
Myrmeleontiformia
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, ...
.
The following families are included:
Superfamily Myrmeleontoidea (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 Diurnality, diurnal predators of other flying insects, and have large bulging eyes and ...
: owlflies (included in Myrmeleontidae in some classifications)
* Family †
Babinskaiidae
Babinskaiidae is an extinct family of neuropterans known from the Cretaceous period of South America and Asia. They are part of the superfamily Myrmeleontoidea. Their distinguishing characters include: "long Insect morphology#Antennae, filiform a ...
* Family †
Cratosmylidae (includes ''Cratosmylus'' and ''
Araripenymphes
''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 (Araripe Basin). The two other species are ''A. burmanus' ...
'')
[
* Family ]Myrmeleontidae
The antlions are a group of about 2,000 species of insect in the neuropteran family (biology), family Myrmeleontidae. They are known for the predation, predatory habits of their larvae, which mostly dig pits to trap passing ants or other prey. ...
: 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
* Family Nymphidae
Nymphidae, sometimes called split-footed lacewings, are a family (biology), family of Pterygota, winged insects of the order (biology), order Neuroptera. There are 35 extant species native to Australia and New Guinea.
Nymphidae stand somewhat ap ...
: split-footed lacewings (including Myiodactylidae)
* Family † Rafaelianidae
References
Insect superfamilies
{{Neuroptera-stub