Deep memories

By deepinside

What is this?

Anyone recognize this bug?
...

WOW! THANKS EVERYONE! I JUST FOUND LOTS OF INFORMATION ABOUT GREEN LACEWINGS.
I'VE SEEN THIS BUGS MANY TIMES IN MY GARDEN AND OTHER PLACES BUT I NEVER THOUGHT THEY WERE THAT GOOD FOR THE ECOSYSTEM.
HERE IS WHAT I FOUND...

Green lacewings are insects in the large family Chrysopidae of the order Neuroptera. There about 85 genera and (differing between sources) 1,300?2,000 species in this widespread group. Members of the genera Chrysopa and Chrysoperla are very common in North America and Europe.
Adults are crepuscular or nocturnal. They feed on pollen, nectar and honeydew supplemented with mites, aphids and other small arthropods, and some, namely Chrysopa, are mainly predatory. Others feed almost exclusively on nectar and similar substances, and have symbiotic yeasts in their digestive tract to help break down the food into nutrients.
While depending on species and environmental conditions, some green lacewings will eat only about 150 prey items in their entire life, in other cases 100 aphids will be eaten in a single week. Thus, in several countries, millions of such voracious Chrysopidae are reared for sale as biological control agents of insect and mite pests in agriculture and gardens. They are distributed as eggs, since as noted above they are highly aggressive and cannibalistic in confined quarters; the eggs hatch in the field. Their performance is variable; thus, there is a lot of interest in further research to improve the use of green lacewings as biological pest control. Species that have hitherto attracted wider study and are more or less readily available as captive-bred eggs to deposit out for hatching in pest-infested plant cultures are several members of Chrysoperla as well as Mallada signatus.
Gardeners can attract these lacewings ? and therefore ensure a steady supply of larvae ? by using certain companion plants and tolerating beneficial weeds. Chrysopidae are attracted mainly by Asteraceae ? e.g. calliopsis (Coreopsis), cosmos (Cosmos), sunflowers (Helianthus) and dandelion (Taraxacum) ? and Apiaceae such as dill (Anethum) or angelica (Angelica).

WIKIPEDIA, The Free Encyclopedia.

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