#nemopteridae

[onenicebugperday]

Threadwing antlion larva, Necrophylus arenarius, Nemopteridae

Photographed in Spain by faluke

[onenicebugperday]

Spoonwing (aka thread-winged antlion), Nemoptera bipennis, Nemopteridae, Neuroptera. Found on the Iberian Peninsula.

Photo 1 by timinnica, 2 by erlandreflingnielsen, 3 by petergleick, 4 by fernandoromao, 5 by draposo79, 6 by simon_oliver, 7 by Agustín Povedano, 8 by simon_oliver, and 9-10 (larva) by simon_oliver

[drhoz]

#1290 - Chasmoptera huttii - Hutt’s Spoonfly

I’d just finished posting the Austrocroce pic, end went back through my posts looking for the only Nemopterid I’d seen myself. I couldn’t find it. That’s because I’d never got around to posting it.

I vividly remember photographing this Chasmoptera huttii, on the north-facing slope on a sandhill in Hammond Park, because I had to crawl along on my belly, millimeter by millimeter, until I was in range to take the shot. And the sand was scorchingly hot, even through the overalls. I was in actual pain by the time I managed to get some photos that were in focus. 

[drhoz]

#1289 - Austrocroce sp.  - Thread-winged Lacewing

The first ID for 2018, a few seconds after midnight (how did YOU spend the countdown?).

Photo by Brooke Janitz, near Kalgoorlie in Western Australia.

Thread-winged Lacewings are in the same family as the Spoon-winged Lacewings - the Nemopteridae - but instead of have elaborate flattened blades on their hindwings, they have these slender filaments instead. I’m not sure what benefit they derive by evolving in this direction - perhaps female Austrocroce just decided that spoonwings were going out of fashion, and decided they preferred their mates more minimalist. Of course, that assumes that they didn’t start off like this and that Austrocroce is stubbornly retaining the traditional look.

[drhoz]

- Gil Wizen

[drhoz]

Amber:18*8.6*5mm Nemopteridae larva:5.2mm Weight:0.62g Genuine Amber Fossil from Burma Burmite Amber is ONE HUNDRED MILLION

rather extraordinary - Nemopterid larva in amber

[lasinombre-blog]

Nemoptera bipennis by Helder Conceição on Flickr.