LIBRARY

CHAPTER XXVII
24. Order NEUROPTERA I Linnreus 1758
(Neu-rop/ter-a, from the Greek IIfupa, nerves, + 7rTepa, wings:
referring to the many veins in the wings.) German, Echte Netzfiiigler.
French, Les neuropteres.
Nerve-winged Insects, Lacewings.
Minute to medium-sized or rarely large; mostly terrestrial, carnivorous insects with
complex metamorphosis; biting mouth parts; head hypognathous, free; compound eyes
large and widely separated; ocelli three or wanting; antennre variable, but usually filiform;
legs long and slender, tarsi five-segmented; wings two pairs, normally simUar in
shape, size, and venation with a network of veins, sometimes hairy and moth-like;
cerci absent; ovipositor not exserted.
Larvre terrestrial excepting the aquatic SISYRIDJE; carnivorous; thysanuriform, or
rarely eruciform j mouth parts piercing and sucking but of biting type; antennre setiform;
legs short and stout; cerci absent.
Although reclassified many times and its number of genera greatly reduced,
the insects of this order are still far from homogenous in structure and are widely
separated in their biology. For practically every statement made concerning
the order there is an exception which serves to indicate the difficulties of summarizing
the character and habits of the group as a whole.
IMPORTANT ANATOMICAL CHARACTERS - ADULTS
External
Si:z;e - minute or medium to large.
Shape - mostly slender, a few robust.
Exoskeleton - thin and often fragile,
smooth or hairy; some covered with
Whitish powdery wax.
Color - cryptic, dusky, brown, gray,
green, and some brightly colored.
Head - hypognathous, free, rather small.
Eyes - compound eyes large and widely
separated; ocelli - absent except in
OSMYLIDtE and DILARID.tE
which have three.
A.ntennre - variable, short or long, setiform,
filiform, moniliform, pectinate,
clavate, or capitate; often manysegmented.
Mouth parts - simple, typically biting.
Internal
Digestive System.
Mouth with fairly large buccal cavity
leading to pharynx.
Pharynx - with a modified pharyngeal
pump.
(Esophagus - annulated, dilated somewhat
through the thorax and widened
in the anterior part of the abdomen
into a large food sac.
Proventriculus - funnel-shaped, lined
with spines and bars; arises from under
side of cesophagus in the third abdominal
segment and leads· into the
mid-intestine through an cesophageal
valve.
Mid·intestine - extends nearly to apex
of abdomen,
l The Linnrean order NEUROPTERA has undergone many revisions since it was first
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