Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada
Photo#140444
Pleasing Lacewing - Nallachius americanus - male

Pleasing Lacewing - Nallachius americanus - Male
Duke Forest off of Hwy 751, Orange County, North Carolina, USA
August 25, 2007
Size: 3 mm
Yeehaw!!! is all I can say. There were two of these at a lighted sheet (mercury vapor lamp) set up by graduate students from Duke University as part of a field trip. We had thought it was a moth, but one of the students voiced the opinion that it was a neuopteran. I got good photos of this one, and managed to photograph the other one (both males, with the pectinate antennae) against a scale. Wingspan was 7 mm, body length 3 mm (without antennae).

Now the title illustration for the Tree of Life page on Dilaridae.

Also a little point of interest for me is that this is not in Brimley's Insects of North Carolina (1). Despite it being published in 1938, the collecting was done over a very long period, and it is unusual that I find a species not included in it.

#140444 Identification – Nallachius americanus
Identification confirmed.

What wonderful photo
of a wondrous insect! I suggested to my wife that the wings, albeit enlarged, might be an idea for a fascinating knitting project for her third graders.
Now someone needs to find a female with its long ovipositor.
A fascinating read on the larval habitat & development of this species: MacLeod and Spiegler (1961; see INFO page).

Congratulations!
Congratulations!

Pleasing, indeed
Nice find, and Yeehaw really does sum it up. Good going, Patrick.