Red-Lipped Green Lacewing

Fascinating facts about the Red-Lipped Green Lacewing

• Red cheeks set this lacewing apart from its cousins. C. rufilabris are distinguished from other members of the genus found in North America by the broadly red genae, pointed apex of the fore wing, black gradate crossveins, and spinellae on the male genitalia. Adults of C. rufilabris are distinguished by their near-entirely red genae ('cheeks'), black cross veins, and pointed hind wingtips. Because they overwinter as adults, they turn brown during the colder months.
• The red-lipped lacewing lives far up the eastern coast, from Ontario down to Texas. In Canada it occurs mainly in Ontario and Quebec, with the only authenticated Atlantic-Canada locality on Sable Island. FIRST RECORD: 1 ♀, Toronto, 14. vii. 1914 (E. M. Walker). FLIGHT PERIOD: June 9 (1965; Rondeau Provincial Park ON), September 16 (1931; Biscotasing ON). On Sable Island the flight period runs July 22 (1976), August 11-14 (1978).
• When garden pests appear, the lacewing's larvae become tiny assassins. The larvae of this species prey upon soft-bodied insects including aphids, thrips, and whiteflies. By hunting these sap-sucking bugs, the larvae protect plants from the damage that reduces photosynthesis and yields.
• Even its chromosomes are unusual. The data revealed a chromosome number of 2n=12 in males (2n=10+XY) and evidence of distance segregation of X and Y chromosomes in meiosis I spermatocytes. This "distance segregation" means the sex chromosomes stay apart through the first meiotic division.
• Farmers can boost potato protection by pairing the lacewing with a Bt protein. The first and second larval instars of C. rufilabris larvae attacked twice the number of prey (1.34-2.91 and 2.9-4.75, respectively) when CPB larvae were fed on leaves with the Cry3Aa protein. A complete reduction in the number of CPB larvae and lower levels of potato leaf damage was observed when the predator larvae were present. This synergy shows the lacewing can amplify biocontrol tools.

At a glance

About the Red-Lipped Green Lacewing

In the warm, golden light of a summer's evening, the Red-Lipped Green Lacewing dances through the air, its delicate, lacy wings beating with a hypnotic rhythm as it pursues the sweet scent of nectar and the gentle thrum of insect prey. With a slender, emerald body and lips of deep, fiery red, this tiny, iridescent creature is a master of stealth and deception, weaving a complex web of predator and prey in the hidden corners of the natural world. As it flits from bloom to bloom, its ethereal beauty belies a fierce and formidable hunter, one that has evolved to thrive in the secret gardens of our planet.

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