Porismus strigatus

Pied Lacewing at Red Hill Nature Reserve

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Identification history

Porismus strigatus	8 Jun 2024	MichaelMulvaney
Porismus strigatus	8 Jun 2024	Miranda
Unidentified	5 Jun 2024	Miranda

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User's notes

Old photo from 2012 - not very good as it was taken with a zoom lens up into a tree.

8 comments

donhe wrote:

6 Jun 2024

@Miranda : The butterfly appears to be a female Heteronympha merope. This butterfly does not make a cocoon, so what is the relationship between it and the cocoon and its larva?
Did you break open the cocoon to reveal the inhabitant?

HelenCross wrote:

6 Jun 2024

or is it another insect/moth in the chewed out bit?

Miranda wrote:

6 Jun 2024

Yes sorry it's not very clear - @HelenCross is right, I think there is an adult moth head down in the middle of the chewed bit feeding on sap. There were dozens of common brown butterflies feeding from these chewed patches, plus this moth.

CathB wrote:

6 Jun 2024

Perhaps a Glyphipterix?

Christine wrote:

6 Jun 2024

Or perhaps a Lacewing??

donhe wrote:

7 Jun 2024

I thought it was a caterpillar with the head capsule at the bottom and the claspers at the top ?

Miranda wrote:

8 Jun 2024

OK I think this is solved - @Christine you're right, it's a pied lacewing. If you look closely at the cropped image you can see that its head is hidden under a sliver of wood with an antenna poking out. So it looks like it has a blunt head like a moth, rather than a 'neck' and pointed head like a lacewing. That's why I thought it was a moth. Thanks everyone!

HelenCross wrote:

8 Jun 2024

Great work Christine and Miranda

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