JungleDragon is a nature and wildlife community for photographers, travellers and anyone who loves nature. We're genuine, free, ad-free and beautiful.

Join

Chrysotropia ciliata larvae This is a very interesting larvae. Its a lacewing larvae but this little guy is apparently voracious. It not only eats other insects, it uses body parts and other oddities it finds around as armor! You can see on the right side parts of exoskeletons and near South East Center, what look to be chocolate rice puffs (way to small to be real rice puffs).<br />
<br />
Lacewings court by &#039;tremulation&#039;, a low frequency sound produced by vibrating their abdomens, which in turn causes the substrate they are standing on to vibrate. The males and females will take turns tremulating; this duet is an essential prerequisite for mating.<br />
The common green lacewing was thought to be one species, but recent research has shown that they are several closely-related species, which can only be distinguished by their courtship songs.<br />
<br />
Lacewings are common insects in British gardens and are easy to recognise by their transparent lace-like wings, which are nearly twice as long as the abdomen. Lacewing larvae are voracious consumers of aphids and insect eggs. There are several British lacewing species, which are often divided by colour, into green (14 species) or brown (29 species) forms. The giant lacewing (Osymlus fulvicephalus), with a wingspan of up to 5 cm, is often found near streams and rivers. They are fairly slow moving and would make a ready meal for a foraging bird, so are rarely seen flying during the day. Instead of feeding on aphids, the larvae of the giant lacewing are semi-aquatic, and feed on the larvae of midges and other small species. Lacewings can be encouraged to remain in your garden by providing homes for their winter hibernation, which can be bought from some garden centres. They will be ready to lay eggs and help to control your aphids when they emerge from hibernation in the spring.<br />
<br />
 Camouflage,Chrysopidae,Chrysotropia,Chrysotropia ciliata,Green Lacewing,Neuroptera,Self-decoration,United Kingdom Click/tap to enlarge PromotedSpecies introCountry intro

Chrysotropia ciliata larvae

This is a very interesting larvae. Its a lacewing larvae but this little guy is apparently voracious. It not only eats other insects, it uses body parts and other oddities it finds around as armor! You can see on the right side parts of exoskeletons and near South East Center, what look to be chocolate rice puffs (way to small to be real rice puffs).

Lacewings court by 'tremulation', a low frequency sound produced by vibrating their abdomens, which in turn causes the substrate they are standing on to vibrate. The males and females will take turns tremulating; this duet is an essential prerequisite for mating.
The common green lacewing was thought to be one species, but recent research has shown that they are several closely-related species, which can only be distinguished by their courtship songs.

Lacewings are common insects in British gardens and are easy to recognise by their transparent lace-like wings, which are nearly twice as long as the abdomen. Lacewing larvae are voracious consumers of aphids and insect eggs. There are several British lacewing species, which are often divided by colour, into green (14 species) or brown (29 species) forms. The giant lacewing (Osymlus fulvicephalus), with a wingspan of up to 5 cm, is often found near streams and rivers. They are fairly slow moving and would make a ready meal for a foraging bird, so are rarely seen flying during the day. Instead of feeding on aphids, the larvae of the giant lacewing are semi-aquatic, and feed on the larvae of midges and other small species. Lacewings can be encouraged to remain in your garden by providing homes for their winter hibernation, which can be bought from some garden centres. They will be ready to lay eggs and help to control your aphids when they emerge from hibernation in the spring.

    comments (6)

  1. How utterly gross..but fascinating, added to my list of oddities! Posted 10 years ago
    1. haha yip that it is! Posted 10 years ago
      1. Claire found one as well:

        Lacewing larvae Order Neuroptera (of which the antlions are part). This little larva is the young of a lacewing (Fam Chrysopidae). They are ferocious predators of plant lice and when the prey is sucked dry, the husk is jammed on the hairs on the back of the larva, thereby giving another meaning to "wolf in sheep's clothes'!<br />
How amazing is this!! Only about 5mm, thought it was just dirt, until it started moving! Camouflage,Chrysopidae,Geotagged,Neuroptera,Self-decoration,South Africa,Spring,insects,lacewings,larvae,south africa
        Posted 10 years ago
  2. How fascinating, and creepy! Reminds me of this:

    http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2859/9393832034_f90ca32962_z.jpg
    Posted 10 years ago
  3. Hi Darryl/all,
    Just stumbled on this one (well, - again - saw it some time ago too, but let it slide ...)
    Excellent bits of description, but the larva itself certainly is not Micromus variegatus or any other Hemerobiidae for that matter. The Hemerobiidae all have "naked" larvae. A few genera (but not all) of Chrysopidae have the debris-carrying larvae shown here and supposedly only one with a garbage heap covering more than 80% of the body: Chrysotropia ciliata
    Your shot "from below" (same larva I suppose?) confirms this, as we can just see the shape of the hairy warts carrying the debris:
    Chrysotropia ciliata larva This is a very interesting larva. Its a lacewing larva but this little guy is apparently voracious. It not only eats other insects it uses body parts and other oddities it finds around as armor! You can see on the right side parts of exoskeletons and near South East Center, what look to be chocolate rice puffs. I would love to know the story of the rice puffs. I found this guy in the middle of some woods. Camouflage,Chrysopidae,Chrysotropia,Chrysotropia ciliata,Green Lacewing,Neuroptera,Self-decoration
    Posted 8 years ago, modified 8 years ago
    1. Great, thanks for correcting it. I'll go through the comments/description and amend accordingly once im back on my pc/laptop. Posted 8 years ago

Sign in or Join in order to comment.

Chrysotropia ciliata (Wesmael, 1841) is a species of "Green Lacewing" (family Chrysopidae). The scientific name (ciliata) refers to the long hairs set on the costal vein at the front of the wings. The larvae of this species are of the debris carrying kind, a feature shared with a few other genera but the larvae of Ch. ciliata cover (almost) their entire body with debris, whereas the larvae of Pseudomallada for example only cover roughly the rear half.

Similar species: Net-winged Insects
Species identified by Pudding4brains
View Darryl Lane's profile

By Darryl Lane

All rights reserved
Uploaded Sep 18, 2014. Captured Sep 18, 2014 17:46 in The Paddocks, Folkestone, Kent CT18 7BL, UK.
  • Canon EOS 60D
  • f/9.0
  • 1/200s
  • ISO100
  • 65mm