PSYCHE 
Vol. 83 March, 1976 No. 1 
SOME ASPECTS OF THE EXTERNAL MORPHOLOGY OF 
LARVAL OWLFLIES (NEUROPTERA: ASCALAPHIDAE), 
WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO 
ULU LODES AND ASCALOPTYNX 
By Charles S. Henry* 
The Biological Sciences Group, University of Connecticut 
Storrs, Connecticut 06268 
Introduction 
It is widely known and accepted among evolutionary biologists 
that the selective pressures upon the immature stages of an organism 
may be very different from those upon the adult form. This principle 
is especially true of the endopterygote (holometabolous) insects: 
in these, there can be seen a nearly complete dissociation of the 
larva from the adult, manifested both biologically and morpho- 
logically. Thus it often happens that phylogenies based upon fea- 
tures of the immature endopterygote insect differ sharply from 
those constructed from the adult; ideally, both kinds of information 
should be available to and utilized by the taxonomist. 
The Neuroptera** is thought to be the most generalized and 
primitive endopterygote order, and as such is considered to include 
forms that are closest to the common ancestor of all Endopterygota. 
Such families as Sialidae, Corydalidae and Raphidiidae express 
their primitive phylogenic positions by the relatively small degree 
of biological and morphological divergence exhibited between 
larva and adult. Other families and complexes of families within 
the Neuroptera, notably the superfamily Myrmeleontoidea (ant 
lions and their relatives), are highly specialized, possessing larval 
forms that in no way resemble the adults. The larvae of most myr- 
*Parts of this paper are adapted from a thesis submitted to the Department of Biolo- 
gy at Harvard University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the PhD degree. 
**This term is used in the wide sense, including suborders Megaloptera, Raphidio- 
dea and Planipennia. 
Manuscript received by the editor April 15, 1976. 
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