Lacewing larvae recently hatched from the egg.

A just hatched Lacewing larvae on the egg no larger than the head of a sewing needle. Image cropped and Sharpened in Picasa.

Mother Nature has developed this ingenious method to perpetuate the Lacewing. Immature lacewings are fierce hunters, and if eggs hatched,
the young would quickly devour one another. The female Lacewing deposits each egg at the end of a stalk, so by the time a newly hatched
Aphid Wolf or Aphid Lion climbs down, its brothers and sisters have already wandered away.
Green Lacewing Larvae, known as an Aphid Wolf will often cover themselves with debris including the empty skins of their victims, as camouflage.

(Some of these images are surely not the greatest but are put up for educational interest.)
(They are very difficult to get, hand held and have had processing by Picasa.)


P1400336_filtered.jpg