NOMEN: Neuroptera Linnaeus 1758: 453 [C. Linnaeus. Systema Naturae, ed. 10, 1758, T.1: 1- 824]

 νευρον (nerve) - πτερον (wing) (Kirby & Spense 1826: vol.14: 369)

ORIGINAL LISTED MEMBERSHIP (Linnaeus 1758): Odonata (= Libellula) + Ephemeroptera (= Ephemera) + (Trichoptera + Plecoptea + Meganeuroptera + Birostrata + Copeognatha + part of Isoptera) (= Phryganea + Hemerobius) + Mecaptera (= Panorpa) + Raphidioptera (= Raphidia)

JUNIOR CIRCUMSCRIPTIONAL SYNONYMS:  
= Caudata Scopoli 1777

= Dictyoptera Clairville 1798

= Neuropteria Rafinesque 1815
= Anisomorpha Newman 1834

TYPIFIED NAME IN BASIC FORMAT: Libellula/fg (incl. Ephemera, Perla, Psocus, Hemerobius, Panorpa, Pryganea)
TYPIFIED NAMES IN USE: Libelluloides

MODERN STATUS: the oldest name of a non-accepted, paraphyletic taxon.

COMMENT. In modern literature, the name Neuroptera is sometimes wrongly used either for Birostrata Kluge 2005, or for Neuropteroidea Handlirsch 1903.

Kluge 2010 BioNomina Dual-Nom :

The name Neuroptera Linnaeus 1758 originally refers to an order including genera Libellula, Ephemera, Phryganea, Hemerobius, Panorpa, and Raphidia with combined circumscription of Odonata + Ephemeroptera + Trichoptera + Plecoptera + Meganeuroptera + Birostrata + Isoptera + Copeognatha + Mecaptera + Rhaphidioptera. Neuroptera sensu Linnaeus 1758 is now considered to be paraphyletic and no longer recognized as a taxon. Subsequently, this Linnaean order was broken down into a number of smaller orders, one of which inherited the name Neuroptera. MacLeay (1821) designated Libellula as the type for the name Neuroptera, so some workers, splitting Linnaean Neuroptera, applied the name Neuroptera to the group where the dragon- and damselflies were placed. Others, however, did, and still do, variously apply the name to groups not including Libellula (see Table) and mostly treated as orders, so this non-typified name is misused as a rank-based one (see Dual-Nom: 2.1).

The name Neuroptera: usage examples.