Megistopus Rambur, 1842

Badano, Davide & Pantaleoni, Roberto Antonio, 2014, The larvae of European Myrmeleontidae (Neuroptera), Zootaxa 3762 (1), pp. 1-71 : 35

Megistopus Rambur, 1842

Diagnosis. Mandibles comparatively long, equipped with 3 pairs of teeth; pronotum covered by long setae; mesothoracic spiracles pronounced, raised on tubercle; thoracic setiferous processes pedunculated; odontoid processes of the VIII sternite atrophied or completely absent; IX sternite with rastra bearing 4 pairs of digging setae of which the internal pair is not over a quarter the others in length.

Examined species. M. flavicornis (Rossi, 1790) , M. lucasi (Navás, 1912) .

Comments. An exclusively western Palaearctic genus, Megistopus comprises 3 species: the widespread M. flavicornis (Rossi, 1790) , M. mirabilis (Hölzel, 1980) , known for a single specimen from Sinai and finally M. lucasi (Navás, 1912) reported from Algeria and Tunisia (H. Aspöck et al. 2001; Güsten 2003). The latter species was overlooked for a considerable time, being originally described as a member of the genus Nelees Navás, 1912 (now synonym of Neuroleon Navás, 1909 ), despite the correct genus placement was already recognized by Banks (1913). This interesting species is also present in Italy ([Bernardi] Iori et al. 1995; Letardi & Pantaleoni 1996; Letardi & Maltzeff 2001), although the Italian specimens were originally assigned to M. mirabilis . The larva of M. flavicornis is the only species of the genus whose larva is known ( Steffan 1965; Cesaroni et al. 2010).