Nymphidae

Split-footed lacewings
Temporal range: Eocene - Recent
Nymphes myrmeleonides
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Neuroptera
Suborder: Myrmeleontiformia
Superfamily: Myrmeleontoidea
Family: Nymphidae
Rambur, 1842 [1]
Genera

Several, including:
Myiodactylus
Nymphes
Osmylops
and see text
Synonyms

Myiodactylidae

The split-footed lacewings, Nymphidae, are a family of winged insects of the order Neuroptera.

Split-footed lacewings stand somewhat apart from other living Myrmeleontoidea. The antlions (Myrmeleontidae) and the owlflies (Ascalaphidae) are more closely related to them, but the bulk of the Nymphidae's relatives includes extinct groups known only from fossils, such as the Nymphitidae, Brogniartiellidae or Babinskaiidae. The spoonwings (Nemopteridae) were at one time also believed to be quite closely related, but they seem to belong to another lineage of Myrmeleontiformia altogether. Myiodactylus osmyloides and its relatives were formerly separated as Myiodactylidae but they do not form a lineage separate from the other Nymphidae.[2]

In addition to the numerous living genera, the fossil Pronymphes is known from the Eocene.[3]

Footnotes

  1. ^ S. Bruce Archibald, Vladimir N. Makarkin & Jörg Ansorge (2009). "New fossil species of Nymphidae (Neuroptera) from the Eocene of North America and Europe". Zootaxa 2157: 59–68. http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2009/f/zt02157p068.pdf. 
  2. ^ See references in Haaramo (2008)
  3. ^ Engel & Grimaldi (2007)

References