ENY 3005 Families of Megaloptera

Identifying characteristics for the order Megaloptera include:

• Moderate- to large-sized insects; hind wings larger than front and folded fanwise at rest; antennae long and filiform, serrate, or pectinate; mouth parts chewing; ocelli present or absent; tarsi 5 segmented.

• Neuroptera lack the anal fold in the hind wing.
• Plecoptera have caudal cerci and 3-segmented tarsi.

Order Megaloptera

• Family Corydalidae -- dobsonflies, fishflies
• Family Sialidae -- alderflies

• Pages 140-142 in D. J. Borror and R. E. White. 1970. A Field Guide the to Insects. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co.
• Page 357 in D. J. Borror, C. A. Triplehorn, and N. F. Johnson. 1989. An Introduction to the Study of Insects, 6th ed. Philadelphia: Saunders College Publishing. 875 p.
• Pages 241-243 in R. G. Bland and H. E. Jaques. 1978. How to Know the Insects, 3rd ed. Dubuque, Iowa: Wm. C. Brown Co. 409 p.
• Pages 441-444 in H. V. Daly, J. T. Doyen, and A. H. Purcell III. 1998. Introduction to Insect Biology and Diversity, 2nd ed. Oxford University Press. 680 p.

Links to other web sites

• Megaloptera and Neuroptera of Florida - A checklist and bibliography for 81 species occurring in Florida.
• Neuroptera [includes Megaloptera] -- Gordon's Insect World
• NeuroWeb Home Page
• Megaloptera and Neuroptera
• Megaloptera on the Arizona Tree of Life