Photo by Dong Lin. Norm Penny observing a lacewing. Photo by Dong Lin. Lacewing larvae feed on agricultural pests such as aphids and moth caterpillars and are commonly used in the U.S. to protect crops. Penny's findings have opened the possibility of using lacewings to protect the islands' cacao crop.
Lacewings can be difficult to find.
In 1989, during a trip to Papua New Guinea, it took Penny and a team of entomologists five weeks of intense searching before they found any. Three years ago, Penny spent six weeks collecting in a forest at Ranomafana National Park, Madagascar, and came up with only four specimens. Only eighteen days into this trip, Penny has collected 55 specimens of at least eight green lacewing species from the islands. Lacewing larvae feed on slow-moving insects such as aphids and moth caterpillars, using their long hollow jaws to grip their prey and suck out its body fluids.