MSU Extension Integrated Pest Management

Green lacewing

Beneficial

Green lacewing

Chrysoperla plorabunda (Fitch)

Chrysopidae: Neuroptera

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Green lace-wing adults (10 to 12 mm) have net-veined wings and gold-colored eyes. They feed on nectar, pollen and aphid honeydew. Some lacewing species are brown and smaller. Lacewing larvae are alligator-shaped with long, piercing mandibles. They are active predators of soft-bodied insects. Brown lacewing adults are reddish brown. They have large, membranous, brown wings and long antennae with a long, thin body. They are smaller than the green lacewing. The brown lacewing lays several hundred oval eggs per female on the undersides of leaves; the eggs are not on stalks like green lacewing eggs. The larvae appear similar to green lacewing larvae. They are gray to brown and alligator-like. They have large, sickle-shaped mandibles.