Green Lacewing
February 29th, 2008 by Kelley
I’m not the only one who thought spring was right around the corner until this latest winter storm hit…
I was out in the woods today for work and found this little fella still alive, literally “chillin” on a tree, despite the foot of snow that was just dumped on us. Its not really ‘collecting jar season’ yet, but when an entomologist wants a bug bad enough they manage to make anything into a jar. For me, I dumped a whole pack of tic tacs out in the snow so that I could bring home this lacewing for a photo op. I’m a nerd, but I think it was worth it.
Lacewings are comprised of the family Chrysopidae in the order Neuroptera. The larvae are crazy-aggressive and feed on other insects. In fact, they are often reared for the biological control of mites, aphids, and other crop pests. The adults vibrate on the substrate for courtship communication.
What beautiful closeups! I have always been fascinated with lacewings, they are so graceful and colorful.
The eyes are almost mesmerizing.
I recently wrote a post on attracting beneficials to the home garden and this was one of the featured good guys.
Since you are a self-professed insect nerd stop by and tell me what you think. Thanks for the great photos.
Could you please — pretty please — tell me what camera type and macro lens type you use?
Certainly. I use a Nikon D40x and I use a Tamron 180mm macrolens. And recently I added a Nikon Speedlight SB600 flash to the set up too.
Wow, these pixes are fantastic. I’m watering at the mouth thinking of the day when I might afford a camera like this. On my Tropical Diversity blog, I use a simple HP digital camera, which can’t compete for closeups like these. Nevertheless, I’m happy to have it. Beats the heck out of what I was using before. Keep up the good work on your site. I’m learning a lot from it. Cheers.