| Megalomus hirtus | |
|---|---|
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| Adult of Megalomus hirtus | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Neuroptera |
| Family: | Hemerobiidae |
| Genus: | Megalomus |
| Species: | M. hirtus |
| Binomial name | |
| Megalomus hirtus (Linnaeus, 1761) | |
| Synonyms [1] | |
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Megalomus hirtus, common name bordered brown lacewing, is a species of brown lacewings in the family Hemerobiidae. [2] [3] [4]
This species is widespread in Northern and Central Europe. [5] In the United Kingdom it has a very restricted distribution. [6]
These lacewings preferably inhabit hot meadows and the forest edges with broad-leaved trees and some shrubs. [7]
Megalomus hirtus has a wingspan of the front wings barely exceeding 8 millimetres (0.31 in). Usually it reaches a wingspan of 6.5–8.5 millimetres (0.26–0.33 in). In these brown lacewings the radial sector of the fore wings shows at least five ribs, preferably six or seven. Moreover, the front and hind wings are rather dark, with well contrasted brown speckling and cross bands. [8] [9] The head and the body are glossy, black or brown black. Antennae are mostly dark brown. At rest, they may be kept between the wings and the legs. The body shows the same color as the head, but the first part is usually slightly brownish. The body and the wings are quite hairy. [7]
This species is rather similar to Megalomus tortricoides , that is slightly bigger, with a maculation of the front and back wings clear and only slightly contrasted. Moreover, the females can be separated only on the basis of tiny differences. [7]
Adults fly from June to August. The eggs are usually laid on the underside of leaves. After about four weeks the mature larvae spins a candy cocoon. This species is overwintering as a pupa. It has one or two generations a year. [7] Megalomus hirtus is linked almost exclusively to broad-leaved trees, with a preference for Corylus species. In UK it should have some kind of association with wood sage ( Teucrium scorodonia ), that usually grows on rocky slopes. [6] The larvae are active predators on aphids [7] or on the larvae of other small insects that have wood sage as host plant. [10]
The insect order Neuroptera, or net-winged insects, includes the lacewings, mantidflies, antlions, and their relatives. The order consists of some 6,000 species. Neuroptera can be grouped together with the Megaloptera and Raphidioptera in the unranked taxon Neuropterida including: alderflies, fishflies, dobsonflies, and snakeflies.
Green lacewings are insects in the large family Chrysopidae of the order Neuroptera. There are about 85 genera and 1,300–2,000 species in this widespread group. Members of the genera Chrysopa and Chrysoperla are very common in North America and Europe; they are very similar and many of their species have been moved from one genus to the other time and again, and in the nonscientific literature assignment to Chrysopa and Chrysoperla can rarely be relied upon. Since they are the most familiar neuropterans to many people, they are often simply called "lacewings". Since most of the diversity of Neuroptera are properly referred to as some sort of "lacewing", common lacewings is preferable.
Megaloptera is an order of insects. It contains the alderflies, dobsonflies and fishflies, and there are about 300 known species.
Snakeflies are a group of predatory insects comprising the order Raphidioptera with two extant families: Raphidiidae and Inocelliidae, consisting of roughly 260 species. In the past, the group had a much wider distribution than it does now; snakeflies are found in temperate regions worldwide but are absent from the tropics and the southern hemisphere. They are a relict group and have been considered living fossils, as species from the early Jurassic period closely resemble modern-day species.
Mantispidae, known commonly as mantidflies, mantispids, mantid lacewings, mantisflies or mantis-flies, is a family of small to moderate-sized insects in the order Neuroptera. There are many genera with around 400 species worldwide, especially in the tropics and subtropics. Only 5 species of Mantispa occur in Europe.
Osmylidae are a small family of winged insects of the net-winged insect order Neuroptera. The osmylids, also called giant lacewings, are found all over the world. A common species through most of Europe is Osmylus fulvicephalus.
Hemerobiidae is a family of Neuropteran insects commonly known as brown lacewings, comprising about 500 species in 28 genera. Most are yellow to dark brown, but some species are green. They are small; most have forewings 4–10 mm long. These insects differ from the somewhat similar Chrysopidae not only by the usual coloring but also by the wing venation: hemerobiids differ from chrysopids in having numerous long veins and forked costal cross veins. Some genera are widespread, but most are restricted to a single biogeographical realm. Some species have reduced wings to the degree that they are flightless. Imagines (adults) of subfamily Drepanepteryginae mimic dead leaves. Hemerobiid larvae are usually less hairy than chrysopid larvae.
The Nevrorthidae, often incorrectly spelled "Neurorthidae", are a small family of winged insects of the order Neuroptera. Extant species may be described as living fossils. There are 19 extant species in four genera, with a geographically disjunct distribution, Nevrorthus, comprising 5 species with scattered distributions around the Mediterranean, Austroneurorthus with two species known from southeastern Australia, Nipponeurorthus comprising 11 species known from China and Japan, and Sinoneurorthus known from a single species described from Yunnan Province, China. They were at one time placed in the Osmyloidea, with the Osmylidae and the spongillaflies (Sisyridae) as their closest relatives, but nowadays they are considered to be the most ancient lineage of living lacewings. Sometimes they are placed in a suborder Nevrorthiformia, but the quite basal position of the family is probably better expressed by placing them directly in the Neuroptera, without assigning the subordinal rank.
Sisyridae, commonly known as spongeflies or spongillaflies, are a family of winged insects in the order Neuroptera. There are approximately 60 living species described, and several extinct species identified from the fossil record.
The dustywings, Coniopterygidae, are a family of Pterygota of the net-winged insect order (Neuroptera). About 460 living species are known. These tiny insects can usually be determined to genus with a hand lens according to their wing venation, but to distinguish species, examination of the genitals by microscope is usually necessary.
Puncha ratzeburgi is a species of snakefly in the monotypic genus Puncha belonging to the family Raphidiidae.
Distoleon tetragrammicus is a species of antlion in the subfamily Myrmeleontinae.
Micromus tasmaniae, known as the Tasmanian Brown Lacewing, is a species of brown lacewing in the family Hemerobiidae. It is widespread in Australia, New Zealand, and Pacific Islands such as New Caledonia and Vanuatu.
Megalomus fidelis is a species of brown lacewing in the family Hemerobiidae. It is found in Central America and North America.
Megalomus is a genus of brown lacewings in the family Hemerobiidae. There are more than 40 described species in Megalomus.
Megalomus tortricoides is a species of brown lacewing in the family Hemerobiidae. It was first described by Rambur in 1842.
Libelloides longicornis, common name black yellow owlfly, is an owlfly species belonging to the family Ascalaphidae, subfamily Ascalaphinae.
Drepanacra binocula, known as the Australian variable lacewing, is a species of brown lacewing in the family Hemerobiidae, found across Australia and New Zealand, including Lord Howe Island, Norfolk Island and the Kermadec Islands.
Micromus bifasciatus, is a species of Australasian brown lacewing in the family Hemerobiidae that was first described by Robert John Tillyard in 1923.
Protobiella zelandica is a species of New Zealand beaded lacewing in the family Berothidae that was first described by Robert John Tillyard in 1923. It is the sole endemic species in Berothidae found in New Zealand. No subspecies are noted in the Catalogue of Life.
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