Antlions & Owlflies (Myrmeleontidae) - 75 Species, Identification & Facts

Ascalobyas albistigma

Identification: White stigma on each wing. Dark anterior margins on forewings. Dark apical patches on hindwings. Antennae pale-tipped.

Ascaloptynx appendiculata

Identification: A slender owlfly with four stalked wings, eyes not divided, as in Ululodes . Leading edge of each wing has dark stripe of pigment--apparently distinctive Reported to have a musky odor, likely to be chemical defenses.

Brachynemurus abdominalis

Identification: ♂ ♀ Adults of this species are often collected in general sweeping. Since the larvae are not pit formers, they are rarely reared.

Brachynemurus irregularis

Identification: A conspicuously bright reddish-brown species with yellow markings. Hind tibial spurs shorter than hind basitarsus, spots in subcosta of wing, ectoproct of male with postventral lobe not abruptly narrowed toward the apex.

Brachynemurus nebulosus

Identification: ♂ ♀ Larvae of this species have been suggested as Batesian mimics of velvet ants (Brach 1978).

Brachynemurus ramburi

Identification: Easily recognizable by the pattern of prominent spots in the forewing. The presence of tibial spurs additionally helps separate it from B. nebulosus .

Brachynemurus sackeni

Identification: Males are distinguished from other southwestern species by their very elongate, striped abdomens and large, distinctive genitalia. ♂ ♀

Brachynemurus signatus

Identification: One of only 2 Brachynemurus lacking tibial spurs (the other being B. nebulosus ). Coloration is superficially similar to B. abdominalis , but the abdomen has yellow markings restricted to the margins of the tergites.

Dendroleon speciosus

Identification: Large, with fairly intricate maculation on the forewings (less so than in D. obsoletus ) and no large, circular spots on the hind wings. Middle femora pale yellow with a darker subapical ring. Legs long and spindly. Antennae slightly

Euptilon sinuatum

Identification: Readily identified by the ornate, white-marked abdomen (with segments having alternating bands and paired spots) and the dark, sinuate mark in the forewing.

Western Picture-winged Antlion

Glenurus luniger

Gerstaecker's original 1893 description (in German, with preface in Latin) is here .

Menkeleon bellulus

Identification: Antennae with a pale band, abdomen distinctly banded.

Myrmeleon crudelis

Identification: Vertex entirely dark with reddish-brown tint, legs yellowish with dark tarsi (not reddish as in M. texanus ), clypeus marked with dark, body dark with yellowish markings on the thorax. Setae mostly white, female with black on the apic

Paranthaclisis congener

Identification: Distinguished from other species in the genus by the yellowish median mark on the mesoscutellar rim (dark in all of our other species).

Peruveleon dorsalis

Identification: Quoting original description (Banks, 1903), for what it's worth: " Brachynemurus dorsalis , sp. nov. "Face yellowish, a dark brown interantennal mark, concave below, a pale transverse band from eye to eye above antennae ; vertex brown

Ululodes arizonensis

Identification: The developed pattern of dark pigmentation in the hindwing is distinctive, and all four pterostigmas are dark. U. bicolor often has less developed dark wing pigmentation, and the pterostigmas of the forewings are pale.

Ululodes bicolor

Identification: Distinguished from all western species in having the forewing stigmas white but the hindwing stigmas dark. The hindwings have a dark band of pigmentation on them, which further separates this species from the eastern U. floridanus .

Ululodes chiricahuensis

Identification: White tuft of setae on thorax near the base of the wings (tegular setae). Antennae held straight while at rest (vs. curved/sigmoid antennae in U. mexicanus ). Inner rear margin of hindwing slightly concave (vs. convex in U. mexicanus

Ululodes floridanus

Identification: Distinguished from all other eastern species by having the fore pterostigmas pale but the hind pterostigmas dark. Only the western U. bicolor has this combination within our range and is readily separated from U. floridana by the deve

Four-spotted Owlfly

Ululodes quadripunctatus

Identification: Sexually dimorphic: ♀ with diffuse dark spots near wingtips (variable and sometimes absent), ♂ with prominent tuft of black bristles on top of abdomen near base (resemble scent scales, or pencils, of some Lepidoptera)