6 
Psyche 
[March 
ence of three true teeth on each mandible, (c) presence of seven 
lateral stemmata, one ventral and six dorsal, on each distinctly 
raised ocular tubercle, (d) lack of any pronounced prolongations 
of other specializations of the cervix, (e) presence of ten to nineteen 
pairs of finger-like or spatulate setose extensions called scoli, later- 
ally fringing the thorax and abdomen, (f) ventral or lateral location 
of the spiracles of abdominal segments 3-8 and occasionally of all 
eight pairs of abdominal spiracles, and (g) fusion of the tibia and 
tarsus on each metathoracic leg. None of these features uniquely 
characterizes ascalaphid larvae to the exclusion of other myr- 
meleontoid families. For example, seven pairs of stemmata is typical 
of all Myrmeleontoidea except Psychopsidae (5) and possibly 
Nymphidae (6 in the larva of Nymphes sp.), while scoli are totally 
absent only in psychopsids and nemopterids. Additional charac- 
teristic ascalaphid features are shared with one to several other 
myrmeleontoid families: metathoracic tibio-tarsal fusion with all 
Myrmeleontidae and probably Stilbopterygidae (McFarland, 
1968); simple cervical morphology with most nymphids, psychop- 
sids and stilbopterygids; three mandibular teeth and raised ocular 
tubercles with many Myrmeleontidae and perhaps all Stilboptery- 
gidae; and cordate head margin and spiracle pattern with a few 
nymphids. However, only owlflies display all of the above char- 
acter states together in an unmistakable gestalt. 
Ascalaphid larvae share with all other Myrmeleontoidea (a) a 
heavily sclerotized, roughly quadrate head capsule displaying a 
unique anteriorly-positioned, vertically oriented tentorium linking 
one pair of pits (“anterior” ones) on the dorsum with another pair 
of pits (“posterior” ones) on the venter (see figures 3 and 6, TAP 
and TPP); (b) robust, inwardly curved jaws with mandibular- 
maxillary sucking specializations typical of all planipennian Neu- 
roptera; (c) relatively small, multisegmented, filiform antennae, 
each with enlarged scape and inconspicuous pedicel, usually orig- 
inating from a small antennal tubercle; (d) labium distally divided 
into two large palpimere-like prelabia, each bearing a short, usually 
3-segmented* palp (figures 3B and 6B, Plb, Prlb and Pip); (e) stout, 
ovoid body with varying tendencies toward dorso-ventral flatten- 
ing, consisting of a thorax and 9-segmented abdomen bearing at 
*2-segmented in some Nemopteridae and 4-segmented in Psvchopsis elegans, 
according to MacLeod (1964). 
