Author(s): Popov, A.
Title: Autecology and biology of Nemoptera sinuata Olivier (Neuroptera: Nemopteridae)
Year: 2002
Volume: 48
Pages: 293-299.
Abstract: Specimens of Nemoptera sinuata were reared from eggs to second instar larvae in captivity, and observations on imagos were carried out in the Struma Valley, Bulgaria. The adults occur in open sunny places in river gorges and feed only on pollen. They are most active at noon between the middle of May and the end of June. The males occur one week earlier than the females. The eggs are laid directly on the ground, most often in the morning. They are spherical (rare among Neuroptera), white, opaque, with one micropyle. Up to 70 eggs are laid by a female over a period of 10 days. The egg stage usually lasts from 23 to 25 days. The lid is cut off by an eggbreaker during hatching. The newly hatched larvae are 2.0–2.1 mm long, are terricolous and always buried themselves by digging to 1 cm in depth. The larvae rejected living or freshly killed arthropods, or roots and blossoms of plants. They were only observed to take water and vegetable sap. The longest surviving larva moulted in September (first instar lasts 72 days) and hibernated. It increased in length to 5 mm and died in April after being reared for nine months.
Keywords: oviposition, Nemoptera sinuata, imaginal ethology, feeding, egg, hatching, larva
Journal: Acta Zoologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae
Journal abbreviation:
ISSN: 1217-8837
Publisher: Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest
Editor(s): Matskási, I., Peregovits, L. & Sziráki, Gy.
