Charles Mayer, age 11, of San Rafael, Calif., for his question:
WHAT ARE LACEWINGS LIKE?
When you start your own vegetable garden, you may conclude that all insects are downright pests. So it's nice to learn about the lacewing insects. They devour armies of enemy bugs and grubs that destroy our precious plants. What's more, the adult lacewings happen to be among the prettiest members of the insect world.
The hundreds of different lacewings are classed in the order Neuroptera, which means the nerve winged insects. Their four large oval wings are made of gauzy, transparent tissue that glints with soft colors in the sunshine. The so called nerves actually are networks of delicate veins. These insects are fragile, fairylike creatures with long, skinny bodies, big golden eyes and long, whiskery antennae.
The large showy types have two inch wing spreads, and most come in delicate tones of green and yellow. Many smaller types come in gauzy tans and browns. These lovely lacewings are the adults that emerge after the drastic changes of complete metamorphosis. During an earlier, less fragile stage, the famished caterpillars lived the lives of adventurous predators.
The grubby larva is known as aphis lion because it devours whole armies of plant devouring aphids. It also feasts on mites and scale insects, on thrips and leaf hoppers. Hence, as a group, the lacewing insects are rated as protectors of our fields and gardens and friends of our fruit trees.
The average larva is a brownish grub with tapering tail and whiskery tufts along his segmented sides. We hardly notice him as he prowls the brown stems among the greenery. Besides, as he sucks the juices from one aphid after another, he tosses the dried husks over his shoulder. He piles up a load of this litter on his back which blends in with the vegetation.
In many species, the adult female spins a small silken spike and lays an egg on the top. Her nesting area, on a leaf or twig, looks like a pincushion. When the larvae hatch, they drop down and scatter around and have less chance to devour each other. After the larva stage, the pupas enfold themselves in silken cocoons that look like tiny puffs of white cotton, fixed under the leaves.