Day 11 - An Interesting Insect

Hey guys and today is Day 11 and I am going to be posting my first ever adult insect I mention that because I have posted a caterpillar. Now this is an insect I had never seen before so it was interesting for me to find out about. It was also a very accommodating little chap as it appeared in my living room last night. After some research I found out that it was a Lacewing which are very interesting creatures.

Green Lacewing (Chrysoperla carnea)

Lacewings have an interesting back story to them. The group of insects they belong to is called Neuroptera. This if formed from the Greek words neuron (meaning nerve) and pteron (meaning wing) and describes the structure of the wings being really delicate networks of veins.

I also found out that they have interesting feature when they are larvae. They have special pincers which allow them to lock on to their prey (a lot of which is aphids which again makes Dad happy) so they can suck out their insides though hollow food tubes. Even more strange is that they can't expel waste until near the end of the pupal stage as its gut doesn't join up with its bottom until then. I wonder if they get stomach ache :-(

They are a gardeners friend with all the aphids they eat and they come indoors or into shelters for the winter, handy for me and my blog :-).

There's loads of information on these lovely little creatures and here's a few links I found:

Amateur Entomologists' Society - Lacewing
RSPB - Lacewing
Royal Entomological Society - Lacewing

I also came across this little story as well which I thought was great, social media helped to discover a brand new species of lacewing!

Daily Mail - New species of lacewing found through Flickr

Hope you like this post.

Z.