Nymphidae

Nymphidae
Temporal range: Middle Jurassic - Recent
Nymphes myrmeleonides
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Neuroptera
Clade: Myrmeleontiformia
Family: Nymphidae
Rambur, 1842
Genera
  • See text
Synonyms
  • Myiodactylidae
  • Nymphitidae Handlirsch, 1906

Nymphidae, sometimes called split-footed lacewings, are a family of winged insects of the order Neuroptera.[1] There are 35 extant species native to Australia and New Guinea.

Nymphidae 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 sister groups include extinct taxa known only from fossils, such as the Nymphitidae, Osmylopsychopidae 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. The family is divided into two major subfamilies, Nymphinae and Myiodactylinae. The larvae of nymphines are similar to antlions, with relatively elongate bodies, and camouflage themselves in debris, living and hunting on the ground, while myiodactylines have wide, disc shaped bodies, and are arboreal, living on plants.[2][3] The adults are thought to be predaceous and are primarily active at night, and are attracted to lights.[4]

Fossil genera are known from Europe, Asia as well as North and South America, extending back to the Middle Jurassic.[5]

  1. ^ S. Bruce Archibald, Vladimir N. Makarkin & Jörg Ansorge (2009). "New fossil species of Nymphidae (Neuroptera) from the Eocene of North America and Europe" (PDF). Zootaxa. 2157: 59–68. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.2157.1.4. S2CID 9304328.
  2. ^ Haug, Gideon T.; Haug, Carolin; van der Wal, Serita; Müller, Patrick; Haug, Joachim T. (March 2022). "Split-footed lacewings declined over time: indications from the morphological diversity of their antlion-like larvae". PalZ. 96 (1): 29–50. doi:10.1007/s12542-021-00550-1. ISSN 0031-0220.
  3. ^ Shi, Chaofan; Winterton, Shaun L.; Ren, Dong (October 2015). "Phylogeny of split‐footed lacewings ( N europtera, N ymphidae), with descriptions of new C retaceous fossil species from C hina". Cladistics. 31 (5): 455–490. doi:10.1111/cla.12104. ISSN 0748-3007. PMID 34753272.
  4. ^ Oswald, John D.; Machado, Renato J. P. (2018-06-18). "Biodiversity of the Neuropterida (Insecta: Neuroptera, Megaloptera, and Raphidioptera)" (PDF). In Foottit, Robert G.; Adler, Peter H. (eds.). Insect Biodiversity: Science and Society (1 ed.). Wiley. pp. 631, 653–655. doi:10.1002/9781118945582.ch21. ISBN 978-1-118-94557-5.
  5. ^ Archibald, S. Bruce; Makarkin, Vladimir N. (June 2020). "A new genus and species of split-footed lacewings (Neuroptera) from the early Eocene of western Canada and revision of the subfamily affinities of Mesozoic Nymphidae". The Canadian Entomologist. 152 (3): 269–287. doi:10.4039/tce.2020.10. ISSN 0008-347X. S2CID 216238397.