Snake-flies, alderflies, lacewings and scorpion flies in Essex
Finding adult lacewings in the wild
Most lacewing records for Britain originate from light traps set to catch nocturnal moths. These
include mercury vapour traps and also the tungsten filament traps of the Rothamsted Insect Survey.
Unfortunately, rather few of the many recorders whose names appear on Brian Goodey's Essex
Moth database seem to have ever sent me a lacewing! I should be pleased to receive all such lacewings
as well as anything you think might be a lacewing but of which you are not certain. These should be
collected to paper triangles nightly (ideal), weekly (quite satisfactory) or monthly (better than nothing),
labelled and mailed to me whenever appropriate. The average Essex garden moth trap ought to
produce 20 lacewing species in a year of nightly trapping. It is worth stating that whilst most green
lacewings do look superficially similar there are several species and all examples should be sent for
examination. Care should be taken not to miss the brown lacewings, which can be remarkably
camouflaged against the egg trays in a trap. Most easily missed are the wax-flies (Coniopterygidae),
which resemble small whitefly. If in doubt, send it to me; I would rather have a batch of psocids,
whitefly and aphids with one wax-fly than no wax-flies at all.
Lacewings are also attracted to house lights, and are often found when cleaning out fluorescent strip
lights. They are also caught in the blue-light "lnsect-o-cutor" traps in supermarkets and chip shops
— and it is a tremendous challenge sorting through the latter on the chip shop counter on a busy
Friday night at "closing time".
After lights, Malaise traps are the most productive source of lacewings, but it is assumed that anyone
using these traps will already be sending samples to me.
That leaves active fieldwork - which is about the only method that also permits the gathering of
ecological and biological information with the insect. Lacewings may be beaten from bushes, hedges,
tree branches and other habitats using a standard beating tray and a pooter or else by simply hitting
a branch with a stick and netting the lacewings that fly or fall out. I say "fall" advisedly, because
some species do just that -looking to all intent and purpose like a bit of falling leaf. Please record
the name of the tree or bush from which the insect was dislodged. Remember to beat all the available
species and pick areas that are not disturbed (beating the bushes along a path edge at 10 am is no
good at all if there has already been an army of dog-walkers along at 6 am to disturb everything!).
Sweep-netting of herbage, especially under hedges, at field margins, on road and railway
embankments, and amongst ruderal herbs on brown-field sites may also generates several species,
especially the green lacewings. On the coast, sweeping the vegetation on sand might just reveal
some of the rare species that are restricted to this habitat (they would be new records for Essex if
found). If it is possible to note the plant species from which a lacewing was swept please do so.
More often than not this is impossible, but please do record the microhabitat and any dominate
species present,
Scorpion flies are most usually spotted before they are captured, since they rest exposed on vegetation.
Typically they are associated with woodland edge habitats, which in Essex usually involve brambles
and/or nettles. When disturbed they "drop" and so they are best collected by placing a tray or net
underneath them then knocking the bush gently.
July and August are likely to be the most productive months for all collecting methods, but lacewings
can in fact be found all through the year. Species of Chrysoperla hibernate as adults inside curled up
leaves that are caught up in bushes, especially those that receive direct sunlight and are sheltered
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Essex Naturalist (New Series) 17 (2000)