The spongillafies, Sisyridae, are a family of winged insects of the order Neuroptera. About 60 living species are known.
In general habitus
, the adults resemble some brown lacewings (Hemerobiidae
). The forewings of spongillaflies have a span of 4-10 millimetres. The greyish or brownish wings have few cross veins except in the costal
field, and most of these are not forked. The Sc and R1 veins are fused near the wingtip.
The larvae of spongillaflies look rather bizarre. Similar to those of some osmylids (Osmylidae) at the first glance, they have spindly legs on a bulky thorax, long antennae, and flexible, threadlike mouthparts. The second and third instars carry seven paris of tracheal gills beneath their plump abdomen. This can be used to easily distinguish them from osmylid larvae, which lack such gills.
Ecology and life cycle
Adult spongillaflies are crepuscular
. They are omnivores
, sometimes hunting small invertebrates
, but mainly feeding on such animals' carcasses, as well as on pollen
The females deposit their eggs singly or as small clutches on plants that droop over freshwater lakes or slow-moving rivers. A protective web is spun to cover the eggs. When the larvae hatch, they drop down into the water where they develop until pupation. They use their mouthparts to parasitize Spongillidae freshwater sponges (e.g. of the genus Spongilla, hence the name "spongillaflies") and Phylactolaemata freshwater bryozoans by stinging into the host animals' body and sucking out cell contents. The antennae are stouter than they look and are used to aid in locomotion. Development to pupation takes between several weeks and one year.
Spongillafly larvae leave the water and go to hidden places nearby to pupate, choosing locations like beneath rocks or behind tree bark. They spin a cocoon for pupation, but in temperate climates they overwinter in the cocoon as larvae, pupating only the following spring.
Systematics and taxonomy
Spongillaflies were formerly placed in the Osmyloidea
, as their closest relatives were held to be the osmylids (Osmylidae
) and the Nevrorthidae
. This was due to the similar adaptations
of the larvae
of spongillaflies and osmylids. But this is apparently due to convergent evolution
; actually, the spongillaflies seem to be closer to the brown lacewings (Hemerobiidae
) than to the osmylids, but even more closely related to the dustywings (Coniopterygidae
). And even though they are not often placed in the superfamily Coniopterygoidea
as of yet, they most likely form a clade
with the Coniopterygidae and thus it would seem that the Coniopterygoidea, rather than being an unnecessarily monotypic taxon
, is expanded to signify that the spongillaflies and the dustywings are each other's closest relatives.
Numerous fossil genera are known, mainly from the Eocene like "Sisyra" amissa which may or may not be the first record of the living genus. But the very basal Cratosisyrops proves that the family already existed in the Early Cretaceous.
- This article draws heavily on the Schwammhafte in the German-language Wikipedia.
- (2007): The neuropterid fauna of Dominican and Mexican amber (Neuropterida, Megaloptera, Neuroptera). American Museum Novitates 3587: 1-58. PDF fulltext
- (2008): Mikko's Phylogeny Archive: Neuroptera Version of 2008-MAR-11. Retrieved 2008-APR-27.