Common green lacewing
The common green lacewing is a pale green insect with big, see-through wings like fine lace and shiny golden eyes. It looks delicate and flutters gently. Its babies are fierce little hunters that gobble up aphids.
How big is it?
How long is it?
How big is Common green lacewing compared to YOU?
Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
Its larvae look like tiny brown alligators. They grab aphids with their pincer jaws and suck them dry.
The mother lays each egg on top of a long thin stalk, so it looks like a tiny balloon on a string.
Lacewings talk to each other with vibration songs, especially when looking for a mate.
Farmers use lacewing larvae to fight aphids and other pests on their crops.
In winter, grown-ups hide in fallen leaves at the edges of fields.
Most asked questions about Common green lacewing
?Are green lacewings good for the garden?
Yes. Their larvae eat huge numbers of aphids and other small pests.
?What do green lacewings eat?
Adults eat nectar, pollen and honeydew. The larvae hunt aphids and other small insects.
?How big is a green lacewing?
It is about 12 to 20 millimetres long, with large pale green wings.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Chrysoperla carnea
- Group
- Other insects
- Family
- Chrysopidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Neuroptera > Chrysopidae
- Lives on
- Europe
Where the facts come from
- Chrysoperla carnea (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Didier Descouens. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
Common earwig
Silverfish
Chigoe flea
Giant earwig
Grannom
Firebrat
Dogbane beetle
Predatory bush-cricket
Orchard swallowtail
Black cutworm
Australian paper wasp
Black field cricket_Chrysoperla_carnea_-_dorsal_view.jpg){kind=link}