Lionel Stange, Curator Emeritus of Neuropterida

Neuropterida: Megaloptera (33 drawers), Raphidiodea (4 drawers), Neuroptera (896 drawers)

The superorder Neuropterida is currently considered to be composed of three orders. The smallest order, Raphidiodea, is nearly restricted to the Palaearctic Region. The Museum has 1200 specimens representing 20 species in 7 genera with l paratype. The Megaloptera consists of two families, Sialidae (209 specimens representing 24 species and 2 genera) and the Corydalidae (1299 specimens representing 44 species in 15 genera and with 12 paratypes representing 4 species). The Neuroptera collection of the Museum is one of the 3 best in the country and one of the 10 best in the world. The Myrmeleontidae collection is one of the best in the world with over 27,000 specimens representing 663 species in 150 genera including many new species and genera. Probably more than 60% of the world fauna is represented. The larval collection is the best in the world with over 250 species. The New World is the best represented with about 95% of the described species. Also well represented is Australia, southern Africa and the western Palaearctic. Nearly all the families of Neuroptera are represented as given in TABLE 1.

The collection was formed mainly by Robert Bruce Miller and Lionel Stange augmented with exchanges with the British Museum, California Academy of Sciences, Herbert Hölzel, Victor Krivokhatsky, Mervyn Mansell, Edwin Riek and other sources. The considerable collection of Henry Townes was donated to the FSCA in 1992.

TABLE 1: Neuroptera at the Museum of Entomology (FSCA)