Portrait of Green Lacewing Larva with a hitchhiker, made with magnification 8 and f/8 using a Canon 7D, a Canon MP-E 65mm/f2.8 and a Canon 2x teleconverter.
Green Lacewing Larvae feed primarily on soft-bodied garden pests - primarily aphids. The larvae are a natural enemy of aphids but also feed on other garden pests including mites and pest insect eggs. While the adult Green Lacewing feeds primarily on nectars and pollens, in the larvae stage of the Green Lacewing are voracious natural predators of a large number of pest insects including garden aphid (source: http://www.thebeneficialinsectco.com).
Green lacewings are insects in the large family Chrysopidae of the order Neuroptera. There are 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 (source: Wikipedia).
