100 Species #59: Brown lacewing

[urbpan]

A brown lacewing (family Hemerobiidae) lurks in the concord grape leaves.

Brown lacewings are smaller than the somewhat more well-known green lacewings. Both groups of insects are weak-flying predators in the same group as the antlions. Brown lacewings patrol the leaves and stems of plants for aphids. As a larva the brown lacewing is a fearsome creature, at the scale of an aphid, snatching up the soft-bodies plant-suckers with its crushing mandibles. In flight, the adult brown lacewing resembles a small mosquito-like fly; I strongly advocate against blindly slapping insects that flutter through your life. Some, like the brown lacewing, are your friends.

Comments

[featheredfrog.livejournal.com]

mind adding a width="100%" attribute in your big images? it would keep them from slogging my friends page around.