Green Lacewing
Description: Wings appear delicate with their soft green net-like veins. Eyes are compound and are usually copper in color. Antennae are long and threadlike.
Habitat: They inhabit fields, gardens, forests, and woodland edges. They flush from grasses and plants and delicately flutter to a new perch when disturbed. They are well camouflaged among the vegetation on which they live. Lacewings can be difficult to approach at times as they seem to be quick to fly away when one gets near.
Diet: Adults feed on aphids, soft-bodied insects, honeydew (a sweet waste of aphids), and pollen. With aphids being one of their main food sources they are beneficial to gardens. Young eat insect eggs, aphids, mites, and other small soft- bodied insects and possibly nectar. Lacewing larvae have a set of hollow, saber-like jaws that are used to kill and eat prey by sucking out the internal fluids. Some people refer to these larvae as aphid lions.
Defenses: If they are attacked or disturbed, adults will emit an odorous liquid.
Eggs: Laid on stalks of silk; eggs are laid on the underside of a leaf or stem. Occasionally I have found them on other surfaces such as wood.
Habitat: They inhabit fields, gardens, forests, and woodland edges. They flush from grasses and plants and delicately flutter to a new perch when disturbed. They are well camouflaged among the vegetation on which they live. Lacewings can be difficult to approach at times as they seem to be quick to fly away when one gets near.
Diet: Adults feed on aphids, soft-bodied insects, honeydew (a sweet waste of aphids), and pollen. With aphids being one of their main food sources they are beneficial to gardens. Young eat insect eggs, aphids, mites, and other small soft- bodied insects and possibly nectar. Lacewing larvae have a set of hollow, saber-like jaws that are used to kill and eat prey by sucking out the internal fluids. Some people refer to these larvae as aphid lions.
Defenses: If they are attacked or disturbed, adults will emit an odorous liquid.
Eggs: Laid on stalks of silk; eggs are laid on the underside of a leaf or stem. Occasionally I have found them on other surfaces such as wood.