1/1/2024 0 Comments Praying mantis fly![]() If the larval mantidfly hops onto a male spider, then it transfers to a female when the two mate, and then transfers to the eggs when they are laid. In some cases, the larval mantidfly must grab onto a female spider and ride around on her for a while - apparently sucking her juices like a louse-before transferring from her to her egg sac. The larval mantidflies are wormlike or grublike parasitoids that enter the egg sacs of spiders and eat the eggs within. Other insects that used to be in order Neuroptera that are now split into different groups are the alderflies, dobsonflies and fishflies, owlflies, and antlions.Īdult mantidflies capture and eat their prey just as praying mantises do, snatching up a smaller insect, mite, or other arthropod, grasping it with the strong, spiny forelegs, and then chomping away.Again, they're completely harmless, except to the insects they eat. The females, with their freakishly long, flexible ovipositor, look downright scary. Their long, necklike prothorax and long, wide head, usually held up and bobbing around like a cobra’s, makes them look really weird. They resemble mantidflies but don’t have the raptorial forelegs. Snakeflies (now with their own order, Raphidioptera, but formerly in the Neuroptera) are not found in Missouri, but if you travel to western states, keep an eye out for these nifty, harmless animals.As larvae, they’re predators of aphids, mites, scale insects, and other small creatures. If you’re familiar with whiteflies, they look something like those. They look something like miniature lacewings covered with dust. ![]()
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