The most commonly seen Net Wing Flies are the green lacewings or the brown lacewings. The green lacewing is sometimes known as the golden-eyed lacewing. They have a long delicate antennae, a slender greenish body, and copper-coloured eyes. It is worldwide in distribution and can be found near grasses and shrubs. The lacewing is also known as a stink fly because it emits a disagreeable odour as a protective device.
The larva, also known as an aphid lion comes with prominent sucking mouthparts and well-developed legs. They use their legs to hold the aphids and the sucking mouthparts to drain body fluids from them and other soft-bodied insects.
They feed continually for several weeks, and then they spin a silken, pearl-sized cocoon on the underside of a leaf, they remain there for several more weeks before emerging as adults.
The brown lacewing is smaller than the green lacewing and is brown, the larvae are very ferocious and after feeding, they will decorate themselves with the bodies of their victims, if you ever see one doing this, you will be amazed to see this pile of dead aphids crawling around.