Garden Pests and Diseases: Friend or Foe #3, 0 by Night_Bloom

Night_Bloom wrote:
No problem, margu, all information is good.

A quick and interesting one tonight. This insect is probably not one seen too often, but was one I found at my light last night. What is intersting about this insect is that it looks like a hybrid of a preying mantis and a lacewing. It's called a mantidfly (family Mantispidae) and is in the same order (Neuroptera) as the forementioned lacewing predators that are more familiar to most of us. It is interesting to note that not only does it resemble a preying mantis, it also holds its feet in the same "praying" position. Both the adults and the larvae are predatory. The larvae might also burrow into a wasp nest or spider egg case and eat the contents. The eggs, like those of lacewings are laid on "stalks" to hold them up off the substrate. Mantidflies do not occur in the Northwest.