Brown lacewing ID and query

[Lord V]

Found my second brown lacewing ever in the garden today - larger and different to the first one I saw last week. Any ideas on ID ?
Also it has something on the back of it's abdomen - initially thought it might be "rubbish" from it's emergence but it does look a bit like a pile of eggs ?

Brian V.

[Geoff F]

If it is freshly emerged I suppose that could well be a bit of larval skin on it's back.

But I'm lost as to an identification here. Note how the outer cross veins reach the wing margin unforked, but about three quarters of the wing length we start to see some forking.

I did even consider a Sponge Fly but they are rather small.

Possibly a fresh specimen of something like Micromus variegatus but these are also quite small with a wingspan (both wings) of 15 mm approx.

So I think this one requires a real expert. Are there any specialist lacewing web sites?

But one last desperate throw of the dice . . . Try Nothochrysa capitata, a brown species of Chrysopidae family. Wing span upto 35 mm and the vary rare N. fulviceps is even larger.

I don't know anything about this family though, so it's just a very wild guess!

[Lord V]

Thanks for the info and thoughts Geoff

Thought the wings of this looked a bit odd in that they did not seem to have the pearlescence you often see in newly hatched insect wings but certainly show some deformities similar to what you see when the wings are still expanding/drying.
The more I look at the stuff on the back, the more I think it might be eggs- just seems too regular for hatching debris.
Likewise know nothing about lacewings in general but normally only see the green ones. This is the second brown one I've seen in the garden in a week but the other was a lot smaller.

I reckon the body length is about 13mm and the single wing length around 14mm.

Brian v.

[Geoff F]

Have a look at this French site. Google do an English translation. Google Translate

[Harry Eales]

Assuming that this specimen was caught in Britain then it is almost certainly the 'black' Lacewing Nothochrysa capitata The alternative British species N.fulviceps is either very rare or possibly extinct.

The whitish lump on the upperside of the abdomen is a spermataphore and is left after copulation to prevent other males attempting the same. I have found several specimens of N.capitata with these attachments.

Beautiful insects, Lacewings. There's an excellent ID guide in the Aidgap Series of books which has keys for all the known British species up until 1997. Since then several new species have been discovered. The book covers the allied Orders as well.

Harry

[Lord V]

Thanks Geoff and harry for the further ideas and info - that explains a lot .
Yes it was taken in the UK (Worthing Sussex), so Nothochrysa capitata it is
Brian v.