RUNNING HEAD
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THE GIANT LACEWING OSMYLUS FULVICEPHALUS SCOPOLI (NEUROPTERA) NEW TO SUFFOLK – a very belated record DAVID R. NASH Osmylus fulvicephalus (Scop.) is easily the largest British neuropterid and its size (wingspan 50 mm) can best be appreciated if it is compared with the wellknown and common, golden-eyed, green lacewing Chrysoperla carnea (S.) agg. (wingspan 30 mm).
Osmylus fulvicephalus
Chrysoperla carnea
It is the only member of the genus found in this country and, as might be surmised from its appearance, it is closely related to the ant lion Myrmeleon formicarius L. (Myrmeleontidae) recently confirmed as a British species breeding in the county at Westleton. Osmylus occurs by streams and rivers, especially those passing through woodland, and its carnivorous larvae develop in moss at the water’s edge. Adults appear to be crepuscular and are most frequently encountered flying low over the water in May and June, although the flight period extends to early August. Unlike many other Neuroptera, it seems not to occur in light traps. Elliot (1996) provides a very useful review of its life history and ecology including details of the highly unusual courtship in which the males are the more passive sex and have eversible scent-glands to attract the females i.e. a reversal of the situation appertaining in, for example, many moths where it is the females who release pheromones to attract males. It was not until a few years ago whilst browsing the species’ accounts in Colin Plant’s “Atlas of the lacewings and allied insects” (1994) that I realised that Osmylus had not been recorded from Suffolk. His map shows Osmylus to be widely distributed throughout Wales and the Welsh borders and in southern England south of a line from London to Bristol. There are two East Anglian records, but neither is from Suffolk.
Trans. Suffolk Nat. Soc. 45 (2009)