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Animal

Lacewing

Chrysoperla carnea, Chrysoperla rufilabris, others (Chrysopidae family)

Also known as: Green lacewing, Aphid lion (larvae)

Delicate green-winged insects with distinctive lace-patterned wings, found across most of North America. Adults eat nectar, pollen, honeydew. Larvae — sometimes called 'aphid lions' — are voracious predators of aphids, mites, scale, thrips, small caterpillars, eggs of many pest insects. Among the most-important beneficial insects for ecological pest management. Eggs are distinctive: laid on thin stalks rising from leaf surface (preventing the first hatchling from eating its siblings). Adults often overwinter in protected spaces; some species can be commercially purchased for release into pest-affected gardens or greenhouses.

Description

  • Adults — delicate; ~10-25mm long; pale green body; transparent wings with prominent network of pale-green lace-pattern veins; large compound eyes
  • Eggs — distinctive; laid on thin upright stalks emerging from leaf surface (the stalk prevents first-hatched larvae from eating their unhatched siblings)
  • Larvae — [[american-alligator|alligator]]-like; spotted brown and cream; large jaws; ~3-8mm
  • Activity — adults dusk/night-flying; larvae active throughout the day

Diet

Adults:

  • Nectar
  • Pollen
  • Aphid honeydew
  • Some species predatory; most flower-feeding

Larvae (the major beneficial role):

  • Aphids — primary food; “aphid lions” can consume 200-400+ aphids during larval development
  • Mites
  • Scale insects (small ones)
  • Thrips
  • Small caterpillars
  • Insect eggs — many pest-insect eggs

A single adult lacewing female lays 200-500 eggs over her lifetime; the resulting larvae provide substantial pest control.

Life cycle

  1. Eggs laid on leaves, on small upright stalks
  2. Larvae hatch within ~5 days; immediately predatory
  3. Larval period — 2-3 weeks of voracious eating
  4. Pupation — silk cocoon
  5. Adult emergence — 7-10 days later
  6. Multiple generations per year in temperate climates

Why this matters

Lacewings provide some of the most-effective biological pest control available:

  • Naturally occur in most North American ecosystems
  • Commercially available for purchase and release
  • Effective in gardens and greenhouses
  • No human harm — adults can’t bite or sting; larvae’s bite is too small to break skin
  • Widely tolerated by other beneficials

How to support lacewings

  • Avoid broad-spectrum insecticides — kills lacewings along with target pests
  • Plant nectar and pollen sources — adult lacewings need flowers; particularly Asteraceae (asters, daisies, [[goldenrod|goldenrod]]), Apiaceae (carrots, [[parsley|parsley]], dill in flower), composites
  • Tolerate aphid populations — some aphids support lacewing larvae
  • Provide overwintering shelter — leaf litter, brush piles, sheltered corners

Why this matters

Lacewings are foundational beneficial insects across nearly every garden and farm in temperate regions. Understanding and protecting them — instead of nuking everything with insecticides — is core to ecological pest management. Many problems “solved” by pesticides could be addressed equally well by supporting the lacewings already present.

See also

Auto-generated from this entry’s typed relations: frontmatter, grouped by relation type so the editorial signal isn’t flattened.

  • Shares approach with: [[hover-fly]]
  • Member of: [[animal]]

Sources

  • Garden Insects of North America, Whitney Cranshaw
  • USDA-ARS lacewing research publications
  • Multiple beneficial-insect publications

Rooted in life.

What links here, and how

Inbound connections from across the wiki, grouped by lens and by relationship. These appear automatically — every entity page declares what it links to, and that data populates here on the targets.

Scientific

shares approach with

  • Ladybug ladybugs and lacewings are complementary aphid predators — different feeding patterns, similar overall ecological role

combines with

  • Nasturtium lacewing larvae prey on aphid colonies on nasturtium

combines

Practical

shares approach with

  • Hoverfly both are larva-stage aphid predators; hoverflies and lacewings together form the foundation of biological aphid control in most gardens

4 inbound links · 2 outbound