Genus and species-group revision of Myrmeleontini (Neuroptera: Myrmeleontidae) using morphological characters

The antlion tribe Myrmeleontini is one of the most diverse groups within the Myrmeleontidae, with approximately 230 currently described species distributed in all of the major temperate and tropical regions of the world. The larval instars of this tribe are well-known for their extraordinary pit-building behaviors. Currently, Myrmeleontini comprises 10 genera, with >80% of its species placed in the genus Myrmeleon. Recent phylogenetic studies, however, have recovered the current circumscription of Myrmeleon to be paraphyletic, and to include within it multiple other, smaller, myrmeleontine genera. These results highlight the need for a comprehensive systematic revision of the tribe in order to realign and rename its taxa as a set of monophyletic groups.
In our preliminary examination of Myrmeleontini species, we discovered that male genitalic morphologies were extremely diverse, and constituted a promising character suite for the potential delimitation of subclades within the tribe. In our current data, approximately 25 species groups can be recognized within Myrmeleontini based on male terminalic characters. In the present study, we will furthermore provide diagnostic characters for these proposed species groups with additional characters in the female terminalia and the wing veins. A morphology-based phylogeny analysis of these proposed species groups will also be presented. This cladogram will serve as a basis for increasing our understanding of the phylogenetic relationship of Myrmeleontini, and will be compared with the molecular phylogeny we plan to construct in the near future.