Libelloidini, new name for an old tribe (Neuroptera Ascalaphidae)
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Updated: Aug 19, 2026

Stiffness Measurement of Soft Silicone Substrates for Mechanobiology Studies Using a Widefield Fluorescence Microscope
Published on: July 3, 2018
Roberto A Pantaleoni1, Laura Loru
1Dipartimento di Agraria, sezione di Entomologia, Università degli Studi, via Enrico De Nicola, 07100 Sassari SS (Italia). ISE-CNR (Istituto per lo Studio degli Ecosistemi, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche) Traversa la Crucca 3, Regione Baldinca, 07100 Li Punti SS (Italia).. pantaleo@uniss.it.
Abstract:
Almost a half century ago, Tjeder (1972) stated that the genus Ascalaphus had been interpreted in a sense other than that defined by its type species (see Pantaleoni and Loru 2018). So, the generic name Ascalaphus Fabricius, 1775, became the senior synonym of Helicomitus McLachlan, 1871, and the genus Libelloides, Schäffer, 1763, was reserved for the Palearctic diurnal coloured owlflies, which until then were considered to belong to the genus Ascalaphus. Even though Tjeder's proposition produced a dramatic change in a long-term "prevailing usage", it was immediately and universally accepted as necessary. However, surprisingly, this change was never followed by the consequent necessary nomenclatural changes at the family-group name level.

