NEUROPTERA: LACEWINGS, ANT LIONS
Definition
- Adults have two pairs of wings, often with lots of cross-veins which give a netting or lace-like appearance. The antennae are thread-like.
- Mouthparts are of the biting and chewing type.
- The life cycle is complete:- egg, larva, pupa and adult. The larva is an active predator.
- There are 2 major types, lacewings and ant-lions.
- In size they range from a wingspan of 8 mm to 30 mm.
What they do & where they live
- Lacewings are predatory as adults and larvae, most feeding on aphids and other insects. Most are terrestrial, but Sialis larvae live in freshwater sponges.
- Ant-lion larvae feed mainly on ants or anything else that falls into their cone-shaped pits.
- Most lacewings are associated with trees and shrubs. There are some that specialise in open habitats, or water, but only in lowland situations.
Number of species
- The British fauna has 76 species, including 1 ant lion.
- The world fauna is roughly 4,700 described species.
It's amazing. Ant-lion larva excavate a conical pit in loose sand, hiding in a burrow at the base. If an ant walks into the pit, the larva flicks sand at the ant, which causes it to slip down into the jaws of the ant-lion. Ants don’t need science fiction monsters when the real life can be like this!
A lacewing or ant-lion only does one poo in its entire life, the larvae and adults do not have 'bottoms' so the poo is left behind in the pupal skin when the adult hatches out. The poos are so large and distinctive they can be used to identify the species!
