Chrysopidae

'' from Austins Ferry, Tasmania, Australia Green lacewings are delicate insects with a wingspan of 6 to over 65 mm, though the largest forms are tropical. They are characterized by a wide costal field in their wing venation, which includes the cross-veins. The bodies are usually bright green to greenish-brown, and the compound eyes are conspicuously golden in many species. The wings are usually translucent with a slight iridescence; some have green wing veins or a cloudy brownish wing pattern. The vernacular name "stinkflies", used chiefly for Chrysopa species but also for others (e.g. Cunctochrysa) refers to their ability to release a vile smell from paired prothoracic glands when handled. Adults have tympanal organs at the forewings' base, enabling them to hear well. Some Chrysopa show evasive behavior when they hear a bat's ultrasound calls: when in flight, they close their wings (making their echolocational signature smaller) and drop down to the ground. Green lacewings also use substrate or body vibrations as a form of communication between themselves, especially during courtship. Species which are nearly identical morphologically may sometimes be separated more easily based on their mating signals. For example, the southern European Chrysoperla mediterranea looks almost identical to its northern relative C. carnea, but their courtship "songs" are very different; individuals of one species will not react to the other's vibrations. ) camouflaged with sand grains Adults are crepuscular or nocturnal. They feed on pollen, nectar and honeydew supplemented with mites, aphids and other small arthropods, and some, namely Chrysopa, are mainly predatory. Others feed almost exclusively on nectar and similar substances, and have symbiotic yeasts in their digestive tract to help break down the food into nutrients. Therefore, the larvae are colloquially known as "aphid lions" (also spelled "aphidlions") or "aphid wolves", similar to the related antlions. Their senses are weakly developed, except that they are very sensitive to touch. Walking around in a haphazard fashion, the larvae sway their heads from one side to the other, and when they strike a potential prey object, the larva grasps it. Their maxillae are hollow, allowing a digestive secretion to be injected in the prey; the organs of an aphid can for example be dissolved by this in 90 seconds. Depending on environmental conditions, pupation which takes place in a cocoon takes about 1–3 weeks; species from temperate regions usually overwinter as a prepupa, though C. carnea overwinters as newly hatched adults. Use in biological pest control While depending on species and environmental conditions, some green lacewings will eat only about 150 prey items in their entire lives, in other cases 100 aphids will be eaten in a single week. Thus, in several countries, millions of such voracious Chrysopidae are reared for sale as biological control agents of insect and mite pests in agriculture and gardens. They are distributed as eggs, since as noted above they are highly aggressive and cannibalistic in confined quarters; the eggs hatch in the field. Their performance is variable; thus, there is interest in further research to improve the use of green lacewings as biological pest control. Species that have hitherto attracted wider study and are more or less readily available as captive-bred eggs to deposit out for hatching in pest-infested plant cultures are several members of Chrysoperla as well as Mallada signatus. Gardeners can attract these lacewings – and therefore ensure a steady supply of larvae – by using certain companion plants and tolerating beneficial weeds. Chrysopidae are attracted mainly by Asteraceae – e.g. calliopsis (Coreopsis), cosmos (Cosmos), sunflowers (Helianthus) and dandelion (Taraxacum) – and Apiaceae such as dill (Anethum) or angelica (Angelica). ==Systematics and taxonomy==

For a long time, green lacewings were considered close relatives of the pleasing lacewings (Dilaridae) and brown lacewings (Hemerobiidae) and placed in the superfamily Hemerobioidea. Belam But this grouping does not appear to be natural and misled most significantly by the supposed hemerobioideans' plesiomorphic larvae. Today, the Hemerobioidea are usually considered monotypic, containing only the brown lacewings; the green lacewings seem to be very closely related to the osmylids (Osmylidae), which have much more advanced larvae superficially resembling those of the spongillaflies (Sisyridae) with which the spongillaflies were thus formerly allied. Thus the superfamily Osmyloidea – also monotypic following the spongillaflies' removal from there – is the closest living relative of green lacewings; some Mesozoic taxa have been placed in families even closer to Chrysopidae (Ascalochrysidae and Mesochrysopidae) and united with these to superfamily Chrysopoidea. ==Subfamilies and genera==

'' holotype wing '' (Nothochrysinae) '' (Apochrysinae) The living genera of Chrysopidae are divided into one very large and two smaller subfamilies; a few genera are not robustly assigned to either of these yet. Compared to other Neuroptera, which have an extensive, sometimes extremely abundant, fossil record, green lacewings are not known from that many fossils, and these are not generally well-studied. • †Aberrantochrysa Khasurty locality, Russia, Early Cretaceous (Aptian) • †Araripechrysa Crato Formation, Brazil, Early Cretaceous (Aptian) • †Baisochrysa Karabastau Formation, Kazakhstan, Middle/Late Jurassic (Callovian/Oxfordian) Zaza Formation, Russia, Early Cretaceous (Aptian) • †Cretachrysa Ola Formation, Russia, Late Cretaceous (Campanian) • †Drakochrysa Laiyang Formation, China, Aptian • †Limaia Crato Formation, Brazil, Aptian • †Mesypochrysa Daohugou locality, China, Callovian, Karabastau Formation, Kazakhstan, Callovian/Oxfordian, Durlston Formation, United Kingdom, Early Cretaceous (Berriasian), Yixian Formation, China, Aptian Dzun-Bain Formation, Mongolia, Aptian, Khasurty, Zaza Formation, Russia, Aptian • †Parabaisochrysa Burmese amber, Myanmar, Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian) • †Protochrysa Yixian Formation, China, Early Cretaceous (Aptian) Kamloops Group, Canada, Fur Formation, Denmark, Eocene (Ypresian) ===Subfamily Nothochrysinae Navas, 1910=== • †Adamsochrysa Kamloops Group, Canada, Klondike Mountain Formation, Washington, USA, Eocene (Ypresian) • †Archaeochrysa Ootsa Lake Formation, Canada, Eocene (Ypresian), Florissant Formation, Colorado, USA Eocene (Priabonian), Creede Formation, Colorado, USA, Oligocene (Chattian) • †Asiachrysa Tadushi Formation, Russia, Eocene (Ypresian) • Asthenochrysa • †Cimbrochrysa Fur Formation, Denmark, Eocene (Ypresian) Florissant Formation, Colorado, USA Eocene (Priabonian), • Dictyochrysa • †Dyspetochrysa Florissant Formation, Colorado, USA Eocene (Priabonian), • Hypochrysa • Kimochrysa • Leptochrysa • †Lithochrysa Ootsa Lake Formation, Canada, Eocene (Ypresian), Florissant Formation, Colorado, USA Eocene (Priabonian) • Nothochrysa • †Okanaganochrysa Kamloops Group, Canada, Eocene (Ypresian) • †Palaeochrysa Kishenehn Formation Montana, United States, Eocene (Lutetian), Florissant Formation, Colorado, USA Eocene (Priabonian) • Pamochrysa • Pimachrysa • †Pronothochrysa La Rinconada, Spain, Early Miocene • †Pseudochrysopa Ootsa Lake Formation, Canada, Eocene (Ypresian) • †Sinonothochrysa Buxin Formation, China, Paleocene (Selandian) • †Tribochrysa Florissant Formation, Colorado, USA Eocene (Priabonian), Antero Formation, Colorado, USA, Oligocene (Rupelian) • Triplochrysa ===Subfamily Incertae sedis=== • †Danochrysa Fur Formation, Denmark, Eocene (Ypresian) • Sinochrysa • †Stephenbrooksia Fur Formation, Denmark, Eocene (Ypresian) • Tibetochrysa ==References==