RES Handbook Vol 1 Parts 12 & 13. Mecoptera Megaloptera Neuroptera

The Orders MECOPTERA, MEGALOPTERA and NEUROPTERA (Planipennia) at one time formed part of the Linnaean Order Neuroptera, a miscellany of veined-winged insects classified without regard to their larval characters or whether they passed through a complete or incomplete metamorphosis. Studies of this group and more especially of their life-histories, with the knowledge thereby gained, has led to a gradual splitting of the Order and the creation of a number of other smaller ones, until only a remnant, the Planipennia or true Neuroptera, remains of the original. All three Orders dealt with here belong to the Holometabola or Endopterygota, viz., those insects which pass through a complete metamorphosis, their wings developing internally in the larval and pupal states; their life is divided into four definite stages - the egg, larva, pupa and imago.