Snake-flies, alderflies, lacewings and scorpion flies in Essex
Wesmaelius (Kimminsia) nervosus Fabricius, 1793
National status: Common (Common) Predicted county status: Common/—
Distribution
Apparently more frequently encountered in South
Essex than in the more northerly vice-county.
Quite why this should be so is not clear, although
the species is very common in urban and
suburban gardens and perhaps less so in rural
areas. In my garden at Bishops Stortford, just
over the border into Hertfordshire, where all
lacewings are counted on a nightly basis, W.
subnebulosus is regular but I do not seem ever
to have taken W. nervosus; the South Essex bias
in the present map may, therefore, reflect reality.
Both this species and W. subnebulosus extend
across the entire of England and Wales, though
in Scotland W, nervosus is more often encountered than W. subnebulosus. Most records relate to the
more or less unicolorous form melancholica Killington. 1937.
Habitat and ecology
Trees and bushes of a variety of kinds have revealed larvae elsewhere in Britain, as have Common
Nettles Urtica dioica- though these may have fallen from overhanging bushes. There is no particular
association with birch trees (Betula spp.) despite this species' old, and perhaps more familiar, name
of W. betulinus Strom (which name is a nomen nudum, since Strom's rather poor illustration is not
accompanied by a description and is, alone, inadequate to determine which species he was describing).
Threats
None perceived.
Etymology
From the Latin nervus = a nerve, sinew or fibre, the adjectival suffix "-osus " expressing the intensity
of the feature
Wesmaelius (Kimminsia) subnebulosus (Stephens, 1836)
National status: Common (Common) Predicted county status: Ubiquitous/-
Distribution
Widespread and very common everywhere.
Habitat and ecology
Ubiquitous. Found wherever there are trees or
bushes.
Threats
None perceived.
Etymology
Derived from the Latin nebulosus = misty or foggy
in combination with the Latin sub = close to/near
to/resembling, hence "close to nebulosus".
Stephens had already applied the name
Hemerobius nebulosus to what we now call
Wesmaelius nervosus in same year, 1836, and this
?oo
Essex Naturalist (New Series) 17 (2000)