Nevrorthidae Nakahara, 1915

Aspoeck, Ulrike, Aspoeck, Horst & Liu, Xingyue, 2017, The Nevrorthidae, mistaken at all times: phylogeny and review of present knowledge (Holometabola, Neuropterida, Neuroptera), Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 64 (2), pp. 77-110 : 80-81

Nevrorthidae Nakahara, 1915

Neurorthini Nakahara, 1915: 14 (nom).

Neurorthinae Nakahara: Nakahara 1958 (mon, nom).

Neurorthidae Nakahara: Zwick 1967 (la, compmorphol, syst); Gaumont 1968 (compmorphol la); Riek 1970 (charact); Gaumont 1976 (compmorphol la); Monserrat 1977 (nom, list); H. Aspöck et al. 1978 (charact); New 1978 (ecol la); H. Aspöck et al. 1980 (mon); Henry 1982 (charact); Gepp 1984 (tax la); Malicky 1984 (biol, ecol); New 1986 (charact, biol), 1989 (tax), 1991 (charact, tax, tax la); U. Aspöck 1995 (phyl); Güsten 1996 (compmorphol); New 1996 (cat: Australia); Wachmann and Saure 1997 (tax, tax la).

Nevrorthidae Nakahara: Oswald and Penny 1991 (list, nom); U. Aspöck 1995 (phyl); H. Aspöck and Hölzel 1996 (overv); U. Aspöck and H. Aspöck 1999 (overv); H. Aspöck et al. 2001 (annotcat); U. Aspöck et al. 2001 (phyl); U. Aspöck and H. Aspöck 2007 (biogeogr, distrmap, figs: gs males); Monserrat and Gavira 2014 (distrmap).

Remarks.

The Nevrorthidae are a species-poor relic family with an extremely vicariant distribution pattern (Fig. 17) of its four extant and five extinct genera: Nevrorthus Costa, 1863, comprising five disjunctively scattered Mediterranean species: N. iridipennis Costa, 1863 (Italy: Calabria, Sicily), N. apatelios H. Aspöck, U. Aspöck & Hölzel, 1977 (Balkan Peninsula, Romania, northern Italy: Friuli, and Slovenia), N. fallax (Rambur, 1842) (France: Corsica, Italy: Sardinia), N. hannibal U. Aspöck & H. Aspöck, 1983 (Algeria, Tunisia), N. reconditus Monserrat & Gavira, 2014 (Spain: Malaga); Austroneurorthus Nakahara, 1958, comprising two species, restricted to southeastern parts of Australia: A. brunneipennis (Esben-Petersen, 1929) (southeastern Queensland, New South Wales), A. horstaspoecki (U. Aspöck, 2004) (Victoria, New South Wales); Nipponeurorthus Nakahara, 1958, comprising eleven species, distributed in China and Japan: Ni. damingshanicus Liu, H. Aspöck & U. Aspöck, 2014 (China: Guangxi), Ni. fasciatus Nakahara, 1958 (China: Taiwan), Ni. flinti U. Aspöck & H. Aspöck, 2008 (Japan: Okinawa, Amamioshima), Ni. furcatus Liu, H. Aspöck & U. Aspöck, 2014 (China: Yunnan), Ni. fuscinervis (Nakahara, 1915) (Japan: Hokkaido, Honshu), Ni. multilineatus Nakahara, 1966, (China: Taiwan), Ni. pallidinervis Nakahara, 1958 (Japan: Hokkaido, Honshu, Kyushu, Tsushima Island), Ni. punctatus (Nakahara, 1915) (Japan: Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, Yakushima), Ni. qinicus Yang in Chen, 1998 (China: Shaanxi), Ni. tianmushanus Yang & Gao, 2001 (China: Zhejiang), Ni. tinctipennis Nakahara, 1958 (Japan: Yakushima); Sinoneurorthus Liu, H. Aspöck & U. Aspöck, 2012, so far comprising only one described species, S. yunnanicus Liu, H. Aspöck & U. Aspöck, 2012 (China: Yunnan).

Extinct taxa from the Eocene Baltic amber are assigned to the monotypic genus Rophalis Hagen, 1856, with R. relicta (Hagen in Berendt, 1845-1856), Electroneurorthus Wichard, Buder & Caruso, 2010, comprising E. malickyi Wichard, Buder & Caruso, 2010, Palaeoneurorthus Wichard, 2009, comprising P. bifurcatus Wichard, 2009, P. hoffeinsorum Wichard, 2009, P. groehni Wichard, Buder & Caruso, 2010, P. eocaenus Wichard, 2016, Balticoneurorthus Wichard, 2016, with B. elegans Wichard, 2016, and Proberotha Krüger, 1923, comprising Pr. prisca Krüger, 1923, and Pr. dichotoma Wichard, 2016.

Nevrorthidae are alternately addressed as enigmatic or mysterious - but why? The adults look rather inconspicuous and may even be frequent if one searches for them at the right place and at the right time. Even the cryptic larvae, which inhabit sandy and stony grounds of rivulets may be frequent if one searches for them at the right place and at the right time. The aquatic pupae are certainly unique among Neuropterida, but neither enigmatic nor mysterious. The secret around the mystery concerning Nevrorthidae may be their isolated existence in hidden mountainous rivulets and the hypothesis that there are hitherto undiscovered remote relic places harbouring populations of known or still unknown species.