Field and Swamp: Animals and Their Habitats |
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Net-winged Insects (Neuroptera order, infraclass Neoptera, subclass Pterygota, class Insecta, subphylum Hexapoda, phylum Arthropoda, kingdom Animalia, domain Eukarya)
The Neuroptera are economically important predaceous insects with hollow, pointed mandibles used to seize prey and suck their bodily fluids out. They experience complete metamorphosis. They are terrestrial even as larvae. As adults, they have four large wings which they fold up when not flying; these wings have an uniform network of veins.
Mantid Lacewings (Mantispidae family, Mantispoidea superfamily)
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Mantidfly, Durham, NC, 7/15/16 |
Lacewings (Hemerobiiformia suborder)
These are photos of Green and Brown Lacewings. Apparently some Green Lacewing species larvae are what Eisner (2003) calls "trash carriers", using plucked plant leaf trichomes to hide themselves from predators (usually True Bugs). Brown lacewing do not do this.
But here all the "trash carriers" are green lacewing larvae, and the other larvae are brown lacewings.
Green Lacewings (Chrysopidae family)
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Lacewing egg, planted on my front door at night, Durham, NC, 7/18/17 | Lacewing eggs, Durham, NC, 7/14/09 | Lacewing eggs. Same place, Durham, NC, 6/27/09 |
Brown Lacewings (Hemerobiidae family)
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Brown Lacewing (Micromus posticus), Durham, NC, 11/22/20 | Brown Lacewing, Durham, NC, 5/1/07 | Brown Lacewing (Micromus subanticus), Penny's Bend Nature Preserve, Durham, NC, 4/4/09 |
Antlions (Myrmeleontidae family, Myrmeleontoidea superfamily, Myrmeleontiformia suborder)
REFERENCES
Eisner, T. (2003) For Love of Insects. Cambridge, MA:Belknap Press of Harvard U. Press.
Newton, Blake (2008) Lacewings. University of Kentucky. Retrieved 5 Nov 2019 from https://www.uky.edu/Ag/CritterFiles/casefile/insects/lacewings/lacewings.htm
© 2006-2020 Dorothy E. Pugh
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