Neuroptera
The insect order
Neuroptera, or
net-winged insects, includes the
lacewings, mantidflies, antlions, and their relatives. The order contains about 6,000 species. The group was once known as
Planipennia, and at that time also included alderflies, fishflies, dobsonflies and snakeflies, but these are now generally considered to be separate orders. Sometimes the name Neuropterida is used to refer to these three orders as a group. This is either placed at superorder rank, with the Endopterygota becoming an unranked clade above it, or the Endopterygota are maintained as a superorder, with an unranked Neuropterida being a part of them. Within the endopterygotes, the closest living relatives of the neuropteridan clade are the beetles. The common name
lacewings is often used for the most widely known net-winged insects – the green lacewings – but actually most members of the Neuroptera are referred to as some sort of "lacewing". The adults of this order possess four membranous wings, with the forewings and hindwings about the same size, and with many veins. They have chewing mouthparts, and undergo complete metamorphosis.