#neuropterans

Meet the four-spotted owlfly (Ululodes quadripunctatus): a very good boy. Found it resting in a parking lot during a bug walk the other night. This pinkie-sized, fuzzy-faced lad is a night-flying predator, protecting us juicy humans from skeeters and such. While it looks a little like a dragonfly, it’s in order Neuroptera -- meaning it’s more closely related to lacewings and antlions. 

Owlflies are dragonfly-like insects with large bulging eyes and long knobbed antennae. They are neuropterans in the family Ascalaphidae; they are only distantly related to the true flies, and even more distant from the dragonflies and damselflies.

Scientific name:Ascalaphidae

Owlflies are readily distinguished from dragonflies because the latter have short bristle-like antennae. The closely related antlions (family Myrmeleontidae) have short, clubbed antennae, smaller eyes, and very different wing venation.The sole living member of the subfamily Albardiinae, the Brazilian Albardia furcata, also has short, clubbed antennae, but its typical reticulate ascalaphid wing venation demonstrates its actual relationships.

Found: Jaydev Vatika, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India