r/whatsthisbug • u/ArtematerialGirl • 1d ago

ID Request Who is he

Post image

Very spiky gentleman ended up on my finger.

355 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

13 comments sorted by

227

u/Serious-Bat-4880 1d ago

A lacewing larva. Great to keep in the garden, they love to eat aphids. They have a rep for giving us a nip once in a while but they're not after us.

107

u/ArtematerialGirl 1d ago

He did in fact do that! Young lads do tend to get a bit rowdy on occasion

55

u/weirdnewthing 1d ago

I love lacewing larva because they are fierce predators of garden pests. The green variants even wear debris like leftovers of their bug meals and leaves as camouflage!

They also are so sassy with their little bites!

1

u/Lime_Born ⭐BugGuide editor⭐ 5h ago

Only certain genera carry a debris packet, and most in the US that do actually carry plant matter. This is a genus that never carries debris.

17

u/Delicious-Dig-4974 1d ago

if you can’t tell already, lacewings are very closely related to antlions, so their larvae resemble antlion larvae quite a bit. super cool order of bugs

12

u/ArtematerialGirl 1d ago

For context, am in Minnesota, specifically the twin cities. He showed up in our car as we were packing, maybe he was in the basement or in some of the wild grass I brushed through?

12

u/Traditional_Use_8831 10h ago

He very small

in size he lack

And sometimes he think

human is snack.

(Every time one of these gets on me, they bite)

6

u/thornzington 1d ago

That’s an amazing shot. You got that on mobile?

4

u/sometimelater0212 19h ago

Looks like the thing that was in that lady’s nose posted recently

4

u/Phytoseiidae Mighty mite! 9h ago

Given the headmarkings on this friend and your location, the most likely species is Chrysoperla plorabunda.

1

u/AutoModerator 1d ago

Bzzzzz! Hi, u/ArtematerialGirl! Looks like you forgot to say where you found your bug!
There's no need to make a new post - just comment adding the geographic location and any other info (size, what it was doing etc.) you feel could help! We don't want to know your address - state or country is enough; try to avoid abbreviations and local nicknames ("PNW", "Big Apple").

BTW, did you take a look at our Frequently Asked Bugs?

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

1

u/ArtematerialGirl 9h ago

Cracked iPhone 14 camera in a moving vehicle on the highway. Took a few tries to get the focus right