| The extant world genera of the family Hemerobiidae are revised. 25 genera are recognized as valid. A key to genera is provided; and the literature on fossil hemerobiids is reviewed. An intergeneric cladistic analysis utilizing 107 characters, 24 ingroup genera, and 3 outgroup species provides a basis for (1) justifying the holophyly of the family, (2) recognizing holophyletic subgroups within the family, (3) proposing a new nine-subfamily classification of the family, and (4) identifying putative synapomorphies for nearly all recognized named taxa. Traits used in the cladistic analysis include characters from the head, forewing, and male and female terminalia. The biogeographic patterns exhibited within the family are discussed in light of the cladistic classification.;For each genus, a synonymical listing, a differential diagnosis, a list of proposed synapomorphies, and notes on distribution and species are given. To the extent possible from the material available for study, representative forewings, hind wings, and several views of the male and female terminalia, are illustrated for each genus.;Phylogenetically important character complexes are analyzed in the comparative framework of the familial classification. The hemerobiid genitalic structure previously called the "parameres" is considered a unique evolutionary novelty of the family, and herein renamed the parabaculum. It is not a homologue of the "parameres" (= 9th gonocoxites sensu Adams) of other neuropterous families. A new terminology is proposed for putatively homologous regions of the gonarcus, facilitating comparative analysis of this complex sclerite. |
