1976] 
Henry — Larval Owlflies 
21 
Discussion 
Works on the morphology and biology of the immatures of 
Ascalaphidae other than Ululodes and Ascaloptynx include those 
by Westwood (1888) and Ghosh (1913) on the Asian genus Heli- 
comitus McLachlan; Froggatt (1900, 1902) and Tillyard (1926) 
on the Australian forms Acmonotus McLachlan and Suhpalacsa 
Lefebvre; Gravely and Maulik (1911) on the Asian Pseudoptynx 
Weele; and Brauer (1854), Zaki (1917), Rabaud(1927), Withycombe 
(1925) and Rousset (1973) on various European species of Ascala- 
phus Fabricius. Xambeu (1904), Fraser (1922), Withycombe (1925), 
von Someren (1925) and Wheeler (1930) have contributed valuable 
notes on true ascalaphid larvae of uncertain taxonomic affinities. 
Purely morphological works on the family and general phylogenetic 
treatments of higher groupings within the Neuroptera have been 
mentioned in the introductory section of this paper. 
Morphological features of owlfly larvae that have been thought 
to be of special evolutionary and taxonomic importance include 
the shape of the head capsule, the form and dentition of the jaws, 
the details of the ventral mandibular articulatory structure, the 
size, number and degree of flattening of the lateral body scoli, and 
the placement of the first two pairs of abdominal spiracles (Hagen, 
1873; MacLeod, 1964, 1970). To this list may be added the shape 
and width of the labral margin (LmM), the relative size and shape 
Figure 8. Ascalaphid setal types, a = typical dolichaster, b = clavate dolichasters, 
c = goblet-shaped dolichaster, d = stellate-tipped seta, e = scale-like seta, f = plumose 
seta. 
