AN UNUSUAL ASCALAPHID LARVA (NEUROPTERA: 
ASCALAPHIDAE) FROM SOUTHERN AFRICA, 
WITH COMMENTS ON LARVAL EVOLUTION 
WITHIN THE MYRMELEONTOIDEA* 
By Charles S. Henry 
Biological Sciences Group, University of Connecticut, Storrs 06268 
Ascalaphidae is a fairly large family of planipennian Neuroptera 
that has received little attention from taxonomists since Weele’s 
1908 monograph. Life history and behavioral studies of the group 
have suffered even greater neglect; what is known has been sum- 
marized in a previous work (Henry, 1977). As an order, Neuroptera 
is taxonomically intractable, largely due to difficulty in interpreting 
wing venation: extreme convergence is common in distantly related 
families, yet divergence often occurs within a single subfamily or 
genus. For this reason, the immature stages have proven to be more 
reliable indicators of relationship than the adults, and our present 
understanding of evolution within the order is based more on larval 
than adult features (Withycombe, 1925; MacLeod, 1970). Since 
such considerations apply as strongly to Ascalaphidae as they do to 
other Neuroptera, all larval or life-history data are of paramount 
importance to phylogenetic studies of the family. 
Described here is a peculiar ascalaphid larva from Mkuze Game 
Park, Natal, collected in November of 1967 by J. A. Slater and T. 
Schuh. Although it shows all the diagnostic features of the family, 
certain details of its setal morphology and of the form and 
distribution of its thoracic and abdominal extensions (scoli) are 
unique and of great phylogenetic importance. As the larva is 
(necessarily) unassociated with an adult, I will describe its major 
features informally and compare them critically with those of larvae 
of known taxa in an attempt to deduce the general systematic 
position of the insect. In addition, I will summarize what is known 
of larval morphology in the superfamily Myrmeleontoidea, so that 
conclusions concerning the Mkuse specimen can be placed in 
perspective. 
* Manuscript received by the editor December 12, 1978. 
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