The Myrmeleontidae and Ascalaphidae of West Africa remain poorly known. This is a consequence of the limited number of insect surveys that have been conducted in the sub-Saharan region and the small number of entomologists, particularly resident entomologists, who focused their a?? ention on these groups during of the 19th and 20th centuries. Intensive collecting over the last 20 years in Mali and Burkina Faso, however, has signifi cantly increased the number of species recorded from these countries and has provided considerable new information on their distributions and ecology. More than 10% of the species collected during this period are new to science. In this contribution, the history and general state of knowledge of the Myrmeleontidae and Ascalaphidae of West Africa are reviewed and new data are presented on the biology, ecology and morphology of several species.