Genus Myrmeleon Linnaeus, 1767

Myrmeleon Linneaus, 1767: 913 .

Type species: Myrmeleon formicarium Linnaeus, 1767: 914 . Subsequent designation by Latreille 1810: 435.

Macroleon Banks, 1909: 4 . Type species: Myrmeleon validus McLachlan, 1894: 515 . Original designation.

Enza Navás, 1912a: 113 . Type species: Enza otiosus Navás, 1912a: 114 . Monotypy.

Myrmeleodes Navás, 1912c: 242 . Type species: Myrmeleodes medius Navás, 1912c: 243 . Monotypy.

Moreyus Navás, 1914a: 55 . Type species: Moreyus brasiliensis Navás, 1914a: 55 . Monotypy.

Morter Navás, 1915a: 466 . Type species: Myrmeleon hyalinus Olivier, 1811: 126 . Original designation.

Neleon Navás, 1915b: 53 . Type species: Myrmeleon immaculatum De Geer, 1773: 564 . Original designation.

Neseurus Navás, 1916: 53 . Type species: Myrmeleon alternans Brullé in Webb & Berthelot, 1839: 83. Original designation.

Myrmeleonellus Esben-Petersen, 1918b: 17 . Type species: Myrmeleonellus pallidus Esben-Petersen, 1918b: 18 . Monotypy.

Leptoleon Esben-Petersen, 1918b: 18 . Type species: Leptoleon regularis Esben-Petersen, 1918b: 18 . Monotypy.

Cocius Navás, 1919: 296 . Type species: Cocius angustatus Navás, 1919: 297 . Monotypy.

Dicholeon Navás, 1920: 193 . Type species: Dicholeon nigritarsis Navás, 1920: 193 . Monotypy.

Tafanerus Navás, 1921: 62 . Type species: Tafanerus indicus Navás, 1921: 63 . Original designation.

Talosus Navás, 1923a: 35 . Type species: Talosus oberthuri Navás, 1923a: 35 . Monotypy.

Banya Navás, 1923b: 145 . Type species: Banya trifasciata Navás, 1923b: 145 . Monotypy.

Grocus Navás, 1925: 185 . Type species: Grocus gerstaeckeri Navás, 1925: 185 . Original designation.

Colinus Navás, 1925: 187 . Type species: Colinus philippinus Navás, 1925: 187 . Monotypy.

Afroleon Navás, 1927: 13 . Type species: Afroleon basutus Navás, 1927: 13 . Monotypy.

Neurocolinus Navás, 1930b: 42 . Type species: Colinus philippinus Navás, 1925: 187 . Monotypy.

Nemeyus Navás, 1934a: 502 . Type species: Nemeyus sanaanus Navás, 1934a: 503 . Monotypy.

Nezuela Navás, 1934b: 155 . Type species: Nezuela geayana Navás, 1934b: 156 . Monotypy.

Bordus Navás, 1936a: 165 . Type species: Bordus temeratus Navás, 1936a: 166 . Monotypy.

Congoleon Navás, 1936b: 337 . Type species: Congoleon sociatus Navás, 1936b: 337 . Monotypy.

Hypsoleon Navás, 1936c: 103 . Type species: Hypsoleon chappuisinus Navás, 1936c: 103 . Monotypy.

Nelneja Navás, 1936c: 104 . Type species: Nelneja guttata Navás, 1936c: 104 . Monotypy.

Diagnosis

Small to large-sized antlions. Adult. Wings narrow to broad, without markings, hyaline. Forewing presectoral area with 5–10 crossveins; RP arising almost opposite to CuA fork, seldom with an extra row of cell under the hypostigmatic cell. Hindwing presectoral area with 4–5 crossveins; RP arising almost opposite to CuA fork. Anterior Banksian line absent, posterior Banksian line distinct on both wings. Femoral sense hair present on fore and mid legs, absent on hind leg. Female ectoproct simple; posterior gonapophyses long, slender; anterior gonapophyses short or lobed, shorter than posterior gonapophyses. Male ectoproct usually simple, sometimes with ventral projection; gonarcus arched; mediuncus usually sclerotized.

Remarks

Myrmeleon consists of around 180 species with similar combination of characters (Stange 2004; Machado et al. 2019; Oswald 2024). Due to the recovery of this genus as paraphyletic by Michel et al. (2017) and Machado et al. (2019), more morphological characters are needed for resolving the complex relationship among Myrmeleon and the other Myrmeleontini genera. Here, the Taiwanese species can be assigned to four distinct species groups due to several morphological characters.