They are brightly colored usually black with yellow. There are usually one to two generations per year. They are green or brown insects with net-like, delicate wings, long antennae, and prominent eyes. Lacewings overwinter as larvae in cocoons, lodged inside bark cracks or in leaves on the ground. In the spring, adults become active and lay eggs on the trunks and branches.
Lacewings feed on aphids, leafhoppers, scales, mites, and eggs of butterflies and moths.
These types of predators typically have front legs that grasp and hold their prey. Parasitoids Parasitoids are insects that feed on or in the tissue of other insects, consuming all or most of their host and eventually killing it. Although the adult flies or wasps may be seen occasionally in an orchard, it is much more common to observe the eggs, larvae, or pupae in or on the parasitized pest insect. Exit holes can be seen where the parasitoid adult has emerged from the aphid mummy. Authored by S. Spangler and A. Agnello, Department of Entomology, Cornell University, NYS Agricultural Experiment Station, Geneva, New York.