Friday's Insect: Green Lacewing

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This is a green lacewing from the order Neuroptera and family Chrysopidae. I found this specimen on my front door last spring. For the sake of giving it a home in my zoo, I will leave it at the family level, since I found very little information on identifying various green lacewing species. Here is some info on the common lacewing, Chrysoperla rufilabris.

According to Wikipedia, the family of green lacewings is very large with 87 genera and about 1300 species. Lacewings are considered beneficial because their larva feed on many pests including aphids. In fact lacewing larvae are sometimes referred to as "aphid lions", though I haven't seen any feeding on my aphids. Perhaps the ants had something to do with that.

Don't forget to check out Modulator's Friday Ark!