"An insect which is neither a coleopter, nor a neuropteran, nor a hymenopter; which does not belong to any of the ten orders recognized by savants, and which they will be rather tempted to rank in the second section of the arachnides.

The family is considered one of the most primitive living neuropteran families.

Spoonwings or Nemopteridae are a family of neuropteran insects.

The understanding of neuropteran phylogeny has vastly improved since the mid-1990s, not the least courtesy of the ever-growing fossil record.