Brown Lacewing - Micromus posticus

This little lacewing had fantastically detailed antennae and was such a fast little bugger! It was zooming all over my deck at midnight!

Attracted to a light in a rural area.

comments (8)

Ferdy Christant

Lion

Great addition! We have a shortage of net-winged insects:
https://www.jungledragon.com/wildlife/browse/animalia/arthropoda/insecta/neuroptera Posted 7 years ago
1. Christine Young
  
  Lion
  
  Thanks I wonder why. Although, I don’t see very many, so perhaps they are difficult to find. I checked out the link, and noticed that there is a combination of family and common names listed. Also, there is a group called “antlions” and a separate one called “Myrmeleontidae”, which should be merged. Posted 7 years ago
2. 1. Ferdy Christant
    
    Lion
    
    I don't see many either :(
    
    Thanks for reporting the errors, fixed!
    
    Posted 7 years ago
  2. 1. Pudding4brains
      
      Lion
      
      One other issue with these is that in most groups there are one or two species that are quite common enough and all the rest of them are either scarce or grossly under recorded. With the green lacewings (Chrysopidae) in Nw. Europe about 90% of what's recorded is Chrysoperla carnea s.l. Of the remaining 10%, about 80% is Chrysopa perla and the remaining 2% or so is shared by the other 20 species that are not necessarily all rare/scarce but are certainly recognized and recorded so much less.
      Even the larger species (such as Chrysopidae or Myrmeleontidae) are often quite difficult to properly ID to species from photo and it gets worse with the smaller Hemerobiidae and certainly with the Coniopterygidae. So many will remain named to the genus or even family level, unless caught and IDed properly.
      That said, I should have images of many more species that I can add (not all of them really "showable"/worthwhile), so I'll try and dig some up when my current streak of being swamped in other things is lingering ...
      Cheers, Arp Posted 7 years ago, modified 7 years ago
    2. 1. Ferdy Christant
        
        Lion
        
        Thanks so much, Arp. Fully understand the difficulty in ID-ing them, but what about finding them? Any tips? Posted 7 years ago
      2. Pudding4brains
        
        Lion
        
        Some are readily attrackted to light, but are usually ignored by people who install lights for mothing (which is a shame really!).
        Other than that I find most Brown and Dusty Lacewings (Hemerobiidae and Coniopterygidae) by knocking them out of shrubs and branches into an umbrella - too small and inconspicuous to find them "hunting by sight" most of the time.
        With the green lacewings it's a matter of looking a bit closer to each specimen you see tumbling around "in the field" (well, in shrubs and trees most of the time) before you discard them as "ohwww, just another Goldeneye/Chrysoperla". If you see _any_ black markings on the critter make efforts to get good images of head and wingveination (colours of cross veins!)
        Our Antlions are quite restricted to areas where there is enough dry sand covered by overhanging structures (either natural or man made!) and ants to walk that sand. Look for the pits in the sand and dig out a larva or scan the area for adults.
        For the Sisyridae you need to be on the banks of small waters that sport sponges.
        Cheers, Arp Posted 7 years ago
        
        Ferdy Christant
        
        Lion
        
        Thanks, Arp! Posted 7 years ago
        
        Christine Young
        
        Lion
        
        Interesting! Thanks for the fabulous info. I got a shot of an adult antlion a couple nights ago, but haven’t uploaded it yet and am struggling to ID it! I love finding any and all unusual insects and will be in the hunt for different lacewings and neuropterans! Posted 7 years ago