There are lacewings in the house: how to get rid of them

• How to recognize a lacewing
• Benefits of lacewings
• The main reasons for the appearance of lacewings in the house
• Ways to combat lacewing

The lacewing is a beneficial insect that eats aphids, thereby helping to maintain vegetation in a summer cottage. But there are times when insects appear in a residential building, causing discomfort to its inhabitants.

For their amazingly beautiful, golden-shimmering eyes, these ephemeral insects were given the name “lacewing.”

How to recognize a lacewing

The lacewing insect has individual external characteristics that distinguish it from other insects. Lacewing larvae are oblong in shape, their body is covered with small warts and hairs. At the base of the larva's head there are elongated jaws that help it fight pests. The larvae move at a fast pace, feeling the plant with their jaws until they find the parasite.

Adult insects have an oblong body of bright green color and large transparent wings with blue veins. The lacewing received its name due to its large iridescent golden eyes, and these insects are also called flernitzes . If an adult is caught, in order to protect itself, it releases an unpleasant aroma, which it tries to scare off the enemy.

Reasons why midges appear

According to experts, more than 1000 species of midges are known today:

• some harass animals
• some harm plants,
• some annoy a person, filling his home.

Most often, these annoying insects are fruit flies or wine flies.

You won’t be able to get rid of these annoying insects until you remove the source of their life activity from your apartment. To do this you need to know their favorite habitats:

• The kitchen comes first. This is where various foods are found, including their favorite delicacy - rotten vegetables or fruits.
• The second place is occupied by the bathroom, where people leave wet things and wet rags. A clogged water supply that is not cleared in time can also become a source of their appearance.
• In third place are animal cages or aquariums. If you care for your pets incorrectly or untimely, you risk acquiring such annoying neighbors.
• In fourth place are vases with flowers or indoor flowers, which are watered very often.

Such places can be listed for a very long time, here it is necessary to highlight the main factors: dirt and constant dampness. By eliminating these two factors in your apartment, you will forever get rid of annoying guests.

In addition to house flies, a person can also be annoyed by another species that lives on the street. The favorite place of these insects is vegetable gardens and summer cottages where people work. In addition to being annoying, this species also bites, so working in the garden becomes a challenge.

This midge is active in the evening. Climbing out of the ground, it begins to annoy a person, flying into his ears, eyes or nose. People call it an earthen flea, which corresponds to its lifestyle.

To combat the earthen flea, various mosquito and fly repellents or traditional methods (for example, tea tree oil) are used.

How to GET RID OF DROSOPHIL flies at home?

Varieties of midges on indoor plants

Midge is the general name for small insect pests that feed on plant sap. But, in fact, these are several different insects. Let's take a closer look at the most malicious parasites.

White midges on flowers - whiteflies, scale insects

White midges include whiteflies and scale insects . They can be found on the leaves and stems of plants, on the soil surface. They often run around the pallet. Adult insects look like moths. The most dangerous time is the first quarter of the year, winter and spring. It is at this time that white midges are most active.

The main danger comes from the larvae of whiteflies and scale insects. They are usually located on the inside of leaf blades, but can also be found at the roots. The larvae feed on plant sap. Signs of their appearance are colorless spots on the leaves.

The whitefly is especially dangerous. This pest multiplies at a fantastic rate and can destroy all your plants incredibly quickly.

Black midges in flowers - sciarids

Sciarides love dampness. That is why they lay their eggs in excessively moist soil. In the warmth, the larvae grow quickly, and the roots provide them with food. Adults are not dangerous to flowers, but larvae can cause irreparable damage to the root system.

Ground fleas in flower pots - fools

These parasites are dangerous because they are almost invisible to the eye. They are very small, less than 1 mm, but multiply very quickly.

In general, podurs are not capable of harming an adult plant, but they pose a huge danger to young and sick flowers. In addition to the fact that fools themselves feed on rotting roots and fallen leaves and flowers, they carry many fungal infections.

Therefore, you should not take risks - if fleas are found, it is better to destroy them.

REFERENCE. Since most pests lay eggs in moist soil, simply replanting the plant will help cope with the problem. But it is very important to completely clean the roots from the old soil. And you will still need to treat with insecticides.

What harm do small insects cause to plants and people?

Midges do not pose a threat to humans: they do not bite and do not carry viruses and infections that are dangerous to health. They are only interested in plants and ignore the human body. But the sight of flickering insects often causes irritation. Flowers do not suffer immediately, because a small number of insects are not able to destroy them. The threat is posed by larvae that spread at high speed and feed on roots. And for reproduction you need waterlogged soil.

Symptoms of indoor plant infection

A swarm of midges over flowers is hard to miss. But if there are only a few insects, then the pests are not always detected immediately. Carefully examine the diseased flower before treating it. There are several signs of a pest attack:

1. Drooping leaves. Shake the plant: if there are midges, they will fly out of the shelter and become noticeable.
2. Whitish spots. This is how the whitefly leaves signs of vital activity.
3. Small white larvae or a collection of adults on the inside of leaves.

If no obvious pests are visible, flood the plant with plenty of water. The volume of liquid in the pot should exceed the amount of soil by 1–1.5 cm. This is done so that the eggs and young larvae that live in the upper part of the soil float above the ground. After such an experiment, excess water is poured out.

Benefits of lacewings

Lacewing helps get rid of all kinds of pests: garden aphids, scale insects, various types of mites, caterpillars. The insect destroys the eggs of Colorado potato beetles and damages the cocoons of even the most poisonous spiders. There are more than 80 species of pests that lacewings fight. Both larvae and adults cope well with small insects, thereby saving many plants from death. Many species of fronds are not predatory and feed on plant nectars, as well as aphid secretions.

Lacewings are good garden protectors, for example against aphids

Prevention

As a preventative measure, experienced summer residents advise observing crop rotation and not planting the same crop in the same bed for more than 4 years in a row. In addition, in the spring before planting and in the fall after harvesting, it is advisable to add manure or peat to the soil - this will significantly reduce the number of pupae and larvae.

And remember that using the same chemical constantly is extremely undesirable, since the parasite will develop resistance to it and the drug will no longer have the desired effect. As for folk remedies, it is better to use them in combination: decoctions, traps and agrotechnical measures.

The main thing is not to start the problem and take steps in time to eliminate the midge from the site. Have a good harvest!

Source

Lifestyle and nutrition

Lacewings are small predatory insects that feed on a variety of plant pests. Midges do not cause any harm to plants. The article will tell you about the peculiarities of the lacewings’ lifestyle and nutrition, their benefits and harms.

Features of the insect’s lifestyle and nutrition include:

1. The first appearance of lacewings of the year occurs in the spring. As soon as the temperature rises above 10 C, small greenish midges appear in the air;
2. The highest level of insect activity occurs in the evening. Like many other insects, they are attracted to the warm light of electric lamps. This is why lacewings can often be seen near lanterns and this also forces them to enter homes;
3. They spend the winter in cracks in tree bark and deep dry crevices in wooden buildings, falling into a state of torpor. In places where moisture does not flow;
4. During the day, the lacewing prefers to hide in shaded places: under leaves and grass. Does not tolerate direct sunlight well;
5. The flight height of the insect, despite the presence of two pairs of wings, is insignificant;
6. Despite the fact that this is a fragile insect, it knows how to defend itself. The aroma emitted by the midge repels many predators.

Lacewings are predatory insects that feed on other insects. Their main dish is aphids. However, some adult midges feed not on the aphids themselves, but on their secretions: nectar and pollen.

The process of communication in lacewings occurs through vibrations of the posterior half of the body. Despite their fragile structure and small size, lacewings are organized insects that bring a lot of benefits.

Destroying many crop pests, they cause virtually no harm. However, the question: is the lacewing a pest or a protector remains open.

Is it worth getting rid of them?

The appearance of lacewings in the house is quite rare. Insects feel great in their natural habitat and do not seek to change it to human habitation. By the way, the presence of midges in the house may even be useful. They will protect indoor plants from pests.

But it’s still better to get rid of the lacewing. Insects flying indoors can cause discomfort; numerous larvae that appear may cause unpleasant emotions in household members. Most often, special measures are not needed; very soon the insects will disappear on their own either due to lack of food or by finding a way to leave the room.

The main reasons for the appearance of lacewings in the house

If an insect appears in the house, there are certain reasons:

• During the winter, some species of lacewings crawl into residential buildings to spend the winter.
• If there are pests on indoor plants, lacewings appear to destroy them.
• In a wooden house, lacewings may appear to destroy woodworm larvae, which have a destructive effect on wooden structures.
• They can get into the house along with any building material and settle in the room. These are rare cases when lacewings appear in a house, but it does happen.

Do lacewings bite?

Lacewings are absolutely indifferent to the blood and skin of people and animals, so they do not bite anyone on purpose. The only thing that can happen is if a larva accidentally lands on a person's body and, while searching for food, touches his skin, it may think that it has encountered prey and attacks.

But even in this case, it would be a stretch to say that the lacewing bites. The insect's mouthparts are not suitable for biting. A bite means puncturing the skin and injecting a secretion. The substance is not dangerous to humans, so the bite may go unnoticed altogether. In the most severe cases, there will be slight redness at the site of the bite, which may be accompanied by minor itching.

Where do house flies come from and how to get rid of them?

The small black flies that so annoy housewives are extraordinary insects. The unique ability of these malicious flying creatures to appear as if out of nowhere gives them a certain mystical aura. However, the secret of the appearance of swarms of midges in hermetically sealed apartments has nothing to do with magic. Drosophila flies, of course, do not have the phenomenal gift of seeping through walls. In fact, midges end up in tightly sealed rooms along with food brought from outside, and the larvae and eggs of fruit flies can hide not only in vegetables and fruits, but also in mushrooms, cereals and garden flowers.

Each fly individual does not live long. Appearing into the world at dawn, it dies in the evening of the same day, but if there is food supply for it in the apartment, namely a supply of spoiled vegetables and fruits, the wine fly manages to lay a huge number of eggs on them within a day. Thus, the number of midges begins to increase exponentially, however, in fairness, it should be noted that in winter fruit flies do not reproduce as actively, but if you do not fight them, even in cold weather they can fill the entire house in a few days.

Read also: Black currants, the best varieties, large and sweet

In addition to rotten fruits, midges love indoor flowers, or rather, the moist soil in which they grow. In addition, the proliferation of midges that have entered the house is facilitated by stagnant water in the aquarium, dampness in plumbing areas, dirt in pet cages, leaking sewer pipes, dishes that have not been washed for several days, and garbage forgotten in the kitchen.

Therefore, if you have fruit or flower flies in your home, before you start poisoning uninvited guests, try to eliminate their “tavern” first. To do this, first of all, remove all food from the table and wash dirty dishes, then inspect the refrigerator and inspect the kitchen cabinets. If you find any rotten fruits or moldy cereals there, immediately take them to the trash bin, and at the same time take with you the garbage that was left in the bucket.

When you have finished cleaning up the kitchen, to eliminate dampness, ventilate the apartment, clean the aquarium, loosen the soil in the flowerpots and drain the water from their trays.

At the end of the cleaning, vacuum the floors throughout the house and at the same time check if there is an apple core lying around in some secluded place.

The three most effective ways to deal with annoying midges

1 way. Industrial insecticides

In the event that general cleaning does not give the expected result, and harmful flies continue to scurry around the apartment, you, of course, can poison them with some kind of insecticidal aerosol, but the same dichlorvos, for example, is allowed to be used only in the toilet and living rooms, It is unacceptable to use such a toxic pesticide in the kitchen.

In areas where food is stored or prepared, it is better to use factory-made adhesive tapes to combat midges. Unfold and hang a couple of Velcro strips under the kitchen ceiling, and the very next day you will see that the number of small “saboteurs” secretly sneaking into your home has decreased significantly.

A fumigator can also be an excellent way to solve the problem of fly infestation. Fill this device with a special plate that acts on flies, or attach a reservoir with anti-fly liquid to it, turn on the unit all night, and in the morning you will not find a single fruit fly in your house.

Method 2. Homemade traps

Fruit flyers can be fought not only with chemicals, but also with safer, but no less effective folk remedies, which include the homemade traps described below.

Drunken trap. Flies love beer and dessert wine. Place an open, unwashed beer or liquor bottle on the kitchen counter. After a couple of hours, a large number of fruit flies will gather in it, flocking to an unexpected feast, all you have to do is plug the cap of the vessel full of midges and take it to the trash heap.

Apple trap. No less than sweet alcoholic drinks, fruit flies love apples. Taking advantage of this weakness, you can build a very effective trap, in which natural apple cider vinegar will play the role of bait. To make such a trap, take a half-liter jar, fill it a quarter full with warm water, pour a spoonful of natural apple cider vinegar into the water, the smell of which has a mesmerizing effect on midges, and add a couple of drops of shampoo or dishwashing liquid. Attracted by the aroma of your favorite fruit, the midge will fall into the water, and the “sticky” soap film formed on the surface of the liquid will not allow it to fly back up.

3 way. Repellents

If you don't have time to build traps, try scaring away unwanted guests with some kind of unpleasant smell. As such “horror stories” you can use:

• camphor, the smell of which all flies and mosquitoes really dislike. Throw a pinch of this substance into a heated dry frying pan and, as soon as its crystals begin to emit a characteristic wormwood aroma, immediately remove the vessel from the stove and walk with it throughout the apartment. Having smelled the smell of camphor, the flies will be forced to retreat.
• garlic - garden midges are afraid of the smell of this plant, so they can repel flies that have chosen flowerpots with indoor plants. Cut a few cloves of garlic into slices, place them on the surface of the substrate in flower pots, and the midges will soon leave their homes.
• cloves, the rich aroma of which plunges midges into panic. Place a dessert spoon of clove buds in a small ladle, fill them with a glass of water, and place an impromptu aroma lamp on the stove. When the liquid in the ladle begins to boil, a thick spicy spirit will spread throughout the apartment, which will disperse the “stray” guests.

Who among us has not encountered this problem? Midges appear suddenly in an apartment and are very annoying, annoying the residents with their presence. Some species - and there are a lot of them - can even bite. But the good news is that the methods of dealing with them are the same, and you don’t have to read a bunch of literature in order to determine which of their representatives you are fighting with.

Ways to combat lacewing

It is better to deal with this beneficial insect in a humane way, but there are methods that allow you to get rid of the lacewing by destroying it. Main methods of struggle:

1. Open windows. During the daytime, the insect leads a sedentary lifestyle, so this procedure is best carried out in the evening, when it is already dark outside. The windows must be opened wide, as lacewings cannot see the glass and can hit it to no avail. The lights should be turned off indoors, but turned on outside. If lacewings have “occupied” the attic space, then it makes sense to leave the windows open all night.
2. Vacuum cleaner. You can get rid of insects using a vacuum cleaner that is turned on. It is not always possible to fight in a humane way with garden nurses, but it happens that immediate results are needed.
3. Sprays aimed at combating flying insects. Such aerosols contain toxic substances that have a detrimental effect on adult lacewings and they die. You can use Dichlorvos or other similar drugs.
4. Lacewings are very susceptible to ultrasound, which can be used in the fight against them. Hearing the ultrasound, the adult folds its wings and falls to the ground, in this way in nature they escape from bats that feed on flannelfish.
5. If flerns are found in the house, which happens extremely rarely, then it is necessary to find the place where the eggs were deposited and destroy them, and the adults can be thrown outside.

   Lacewings lay eggs on the undersurfaces of leaves and plants, often near aphid colonies

6. Although lacewings do not harm plants, they can be found on house flowers and subsequently spread throughout the house. To prevent them from appearing on indoor plants, you need to make a special solution and treat the flowers with it. The solution requires the following components: vanillin - 50 g and a liter of water. Mix the two components and spray your indoor plants with it once a week.
7. A fumigator can help get rid of this insect. You can also install sticky traps that are designed specifically for flying insects. They are installed near indoor plants, lacewings get into them and cannot get out; as the adhesive tape fills with insects, it must be replaced.
8. If a lacewing is found in a wooden house, this may serve as a signal that the frame is gradually being affected by wood-boring beetle larvae. It is necessary to take preventive measures aimed at combating the woodworm, after which the lacewings themselves can leave the room through ventilation and window cracks. Also, flier makers slow down their productivity and cannot tolerate high room humidity.
9. Any insecticide can be used to control larvae. By treating the leaves of plants with it, the poison will fall on the small pests living on them. Thus, the larva of the fleurberry is affected by the toxic substance and dies.
10. Scientists have proven intolerance to high temperatures of fleurs. In order to get rid of lacewings indoors, it is necessary to create hot conditions. Electric convectors and fireplaces installed at full power indoors have a detrimental effect on the insect, killing it.

Before destroying the lacewing, it is better to remember the amount of benefit that these health care insects bring and resort to humane methods of control.

Today, the lacewing is used for large-scale destruction of small pests. Special factories are being created in which fleurnies and ladybugs are bred, but such projects are expensive. Gardening stores sell special chambers that are suitable for wintering this insect. But only a few female fleurs manage to spend the winter in such houses.

Fighting lacewing

Although the lacewing does not harm a person or his property, such a neighborhood is quite unpleasant. Therefore, you need to know how to get rid of green midges in the house without harming the health of your household.

The appearance of a fleur-de-lis in a wooden house may indicate that a wood-boring beetle is gnawing on its walls.

First of all, you need to understand why the florist settled in the room. Most likely, indoor plants have been attacked by other pests, which are attractive food for midges and their larvae. Therefore, you need to inspect all home flowers. If infected specimens are found, they must be immediately quarantined and treated with insecticides.

Mechanical removal

Destruction of insect imagoes is the most primitive method of control. Although it does not eliminate clutches of eggs and larvae, the number of adults involved in reproduction is reduced. In combination with insecticides, mechanical removal gives a positive result.

You can use special traps sold in stores:

1. Aeroxon is a trap with an adhesive surface, impregnated with a composition with a color attractive to midges. Designed primarily to combat small insects flying around domestic plants, which include the common lacewing. The glue is safe for plants and humans because it contains no toxic substances and is also odorless.
2. Another trap from Aeroxon is a window tape that allows you to catch insects flying into your apartment from the street.
3. The well-known adhesive tape against midges and flies from. A time-tested tool.

Adults can be caught with a vacuum cleaner. At the same time, it is recommended to wage war on clutches: having found them on indoor plants, it is enough to simply crush the eggs.

Another possible way to control green midges is based on the fact that these delicate insects cannot tolerate heat. Therefore, if possible, the air in the room is heated above 30 °C, which causes mass death of fleurs.

Chemical insecticides

Before deciding to use toxic substances against common lacewings, you need to weigh the pros and cons. After all, this insect is harmless to humans and can be removed without the use of pesticides, and the use of toxic substances in residential premises is extremely undesirable and is done only in extreme cases when other methods are ineffective.

When treating a living space, you need to use personal protective equipment, and then make sure that the room is sufficiently ventilated.

Sprays and aerosols will help get rid of any annoying midges in the house, for example:

• "Dichlorvos";
• "Raptor";
• "Raid" and many others. etc.

They are sprayed indoors in accordance with the rules and regulations written in the instructions for the product.
The larvae of the larvae live on plants, feeding on pests. Therefore, indoor flowers need to be treated with insecticides intended for this purpose. Many gardeners consider Aktaru to be the most universal and effective chemical - a systemic agent that allows you to deal with all insects on plants at the same time.

Prevention

There are no specific measures to prevent the appearance of green midges with transparent wings in the house. But maintaining the health of indoor plants will help to avoid this: a house without food sources is unattractive to any insect, as well as using mosquito nets on the windows and doors of the house. Also, a popular trick says that midges cannot stand strong odors, so they will be scared away by the aroma of plants rich in essential oils: for example, ordinary geranium or tangerine.

You need to start the fight against green midges by tidying up your home plants, as well as destroying adult individuals and clutches. If you cannot cope with the spread of insects in your apartment, then chemical sprays and aerosols will come to the rescue. They are effective mainly against adults, so treatment must be carried out until the population in the house is completely destroyed.

Peculiarities

The lacewing is a very small insect from the order Reticuloptera. There are more than two thousand species of midges, differing in color and size. The largest bug is considered to be green - 1.5 centimeters, the smallest is brown - several millimeters long. Its habitat is forests, parks, gardens and vegetable gardens. So the lacewing flies into the apartment by chance and it is not its usual habitat.

The insect received this name because of its facet-type eyes, which are transparent or golden in color. Bugs are nocturnal and fly into rooms where they are attracted by the bright light of light bulbs. During the daytime, they like to be in dark places, in closets, cracks and other spaces where there is no sunlight. They can move quite quickly in the air and do this to search for food, lured by a bright light or if someone frightened it.

Food preferences

Different species of these boogers have their own favorite food. Some feast only on juice and pollen, others eat small insects, aphids and mites. When food is scarce, cases of cannibalism occur among lacewings. The midge has a good appetite; in a day it eats over a hundred plant pests. Knowing this, many summer residents deliberately increase their number on their site so as not to use harmful chemical solutions for spraying plants.

Insect development and reproduction cycle

The lacewing is considered the most harmless. The female lives about 60 days. During this time, she manages to lay more than one and a half thousand eggs. She does this every day. The insect attaches eggs on special silken legs to the plant. The rate of maturation and appearance of larvae depends on the air temperature in nature. When the summer is hot, the process lasts only three days. Egg laying is done close to the food source.

After birth, the larvae need to immediately start eating; if food is not available, they will eat each other. During the season, depending on the climate, a bug can “give birth” from two to five generations. The midge does not tolerate sudden increases or decreases in air temperature. When daylight hours decrease significantly or temperatures drop to 10 degrees, the lacewing enters diapause. Adult insects and larvae can overwinter. Some species tolerate cold by forming cocoons.

Next, we recommend watching a video that talks in detail about what kind of insect the “lacewing” is:

Types of midges and reasons for their appearance

Many housewives wonder where midges come from in their apartments. Most often, insects appear in summer or autumn, but they can also appear in winter, even in a room with tightly closed windows and doors. Therefore, before you start fighting them, you need to find the source of their occurrence:

1. Contaminated and slightly rotten fruits brought into the house from a store or garden are the most common cause of midges appearing in the kitchen. They create ideal conditions for insects to feed and reproduce. Midges are especially common on the balcony in the fall, where a lot of vegetables are stored for canning. To get rid of it, you need to destroy the missing products.
2. Poor trash bin hygiene and irregular waste disposal may also be a precursor to the appearance of fruit flies in the kitchen. Despite the fact that the lifespan of insects is only a day, they manage to lay eggs in rotting food waste. As a result, you have to look for ways to get rid of midges in your apartment.
3. Failure to clean your pet's cage in a timely manner can also cause midges to appear in your apartment. An unkempt dog or cat bowl, a dirty aquarium and rotting algae in it are excellent sources for the spread of insects. Regular cleaning of your pet's dishes will help get rid of pests in your home.
4. Midges in the house can start in the soil of indoor plants. Excessively abundant watering and fertilization with used tea leaves create favorable conditions for the proliferation of flower midges on windows.
5. The cause of midges in the kitchen may be a clogged drain. Food particles stuck in the siphon continue to decompose there, which provokes the emergence of new individuals. In such a situation, cleaning the siphon with a special product will help get rid of insects.
6. Faulty plumbing can also contribute to the presence of midges in the kitchen. A constant leaking faucet creates dampness in the apartment, which insects love so much.
7. Insects can enter the kitchen through the vents or simply fly into the house from the street through a window or door.

Midges are two-winged insects that are similar to flies, only smaller in size. There are three types of pests most commonly found in kitchens. Here it’s worth mentioning right away where they come from in the apartment, because they penetrate your life in completely different ways.

1. Drosophila - they are also called fruit and wine midges. They are easily recognized by their dark yellow, orange, brown or black color. They love rotten remains of fruits and vegetables, waste from the trash can and sweets. They are able to take a liking to wet rags that have been lying around for a long time. You bring them from the market or from the grocery store.
2. Sewer flies are black in color, their bodies are densely covered with hairs. They live in sewers and other damp and warm places. They appear if food waste has accumulated in the drain.
3. Sciarides are fungus gnats. In appearance, they really look like small mosquitoes from light gray to black. They attack indoor plants and love waterlogged soil. They end up in a home with poorly cultivated soil, or they can fly through an open window and find refuge in an indoor flower.

If we talk about sewer flies, they are carriers of dangerous microorganisms, and fruit flies accelerate the process of spoilage of good vegetables and fruits by spreading rot particles from spoiled ones onto them. Sciarid larvae feed on root sap and impair oxygen exchange in the soil, so don’t be surprised that plants wither.

In general, it’s not very pleasant. Add to this the even more disgusting sight of hordes of small insects circling around your home, and the danger of them getting into your nose, eyes and ears. It becomes absolutely clear that unpleasant guests need to be dealt with quickly.

Appearance

In most cases, the beetle is no more than 5 mm in size, brown or black in color, and resembles an oval in shape. The life period is shorter than that of the larva at all stages of development. Surfaces with roughness or pile are ideal for laying eggs by the female, including: fabrics, furs, carpets, woolen products and folds of clothing.

The increase in individuals occurs from April to June. Brown bugs on the windowsill or in the lamp shades indicate their favorite habitats. Bright lighting is most attractive to skin beetles.

The laying of eggs by a fertilized female occurs in portions and lasts from 2 to 10 days, during which their maximum number reaches 100 pieces. Having completed their purpose, the brown bugs die. The oblong white eggs are about 2 mm in size. The embryo grows intensively from 2 to 55 days, based on the ambient temperature.

Biologists count over 600 species of skin beetles

Harm and benefits of green flies

The main danger of blowflies is that they spread many diseases on their bodies, including cholera, dysentery, intestinal myiasis and typhoid fever. And given their fantastic reproduction speed, flight speed and penetration into all cracks, such a danger is very likely.

Flies also spoil a huge amount of food products, causing huge losses to food industry enterprises and livestock farming (they lay eggs in the nose, eyes, genitals, wounds, and transfer various pathogens and parasites from sick animals to healthy ones).

There are also benefits from carrion. By knowing the timing of blowfly development at all stages, forensic scientists can determine the time of death to the day, even if the body has been adversely affected. Insects were first used in search of killers back in the 13th century.

During the war, 100 years ago, maggots were used for field cleaning of wounds from dead flesh. Having learned that the juice of the larvae dissolves only areas that die and does not touch the living ones, they began to use them to remove necrotic layers.

First, they filled the wounds with maggots, and after a certain time they removed the cleaners, carefully cleaned the surface of the wound and obtained clean, living and sterile flesh. For medical purposes, special larvae were used, the cleanliness and sterility of which were monitored so as not to further infect the wounded.

Even now, options for using carcasses to treat tissue necrosis are periodically being developed, since dead tissue cannot be removed surgically so thinly, nanometers in size.

Reproduction

After the lacewing has had enough, it begins laying eggs. Method of laying eggs

These insects have a very interesting look. Having chosen a suitable leaf, the female lacewing releases a sticky drop from her abdomen onto its surface. This drop, rising in the air, is pulled into a thin thread 10–14 mm long. The thread of the adhesive mass immediately hardens. The female attaches an oblong-shaped egg to the upper end of the thread. And this is how she lays all her eggs. In one day, their number reaches 60. Over the course of its entire life, the lacewing lays up to 400 eggs.

This cunning method is justified by the desire of the lacewing to prevent the first hatched larva from eating the eggs. That's why she places it higher. Otherwise, instead of 60 larvae, only 6–12 will be born and survive.

The lacewing takes care of the nutrition of its offspring in advance, choosing a leaf with a dense accumulation of aphids.

After a few days, reddish and brown larvae hatch from the laid eggs, the length of which is about 7 mm. Immediately after birth, the larva molts and goes hunting. The jaws are sharp, curved in the shape of a sickle. The larvae have 3 pairs of legs, of which the thoracic legs are the most developed. Some larvae cover their bodies with skins of dead aphids and look like small lumps of garbage.

Lacewing larvae, like adult insects, are very voracious. With their sharp jaws, they greedily grab the victim and inject poison into it, causing paralysis. The venom is injected using tubular mandibles similar to syringe needles. The lacewing stays in the larval phase for 2 weeks, during which it eats about 400. Then comes the pupal phase, lasting 5 days.

General information

Belongs to the order Neuroptera, the family of lacewings (Chrysopidae). Of the two thousand representatives of the entire family Chrysopidae, the most famous is the common lacewing - a small predatory insect, the wingspan of which can reach 3 cm. Its larvae, which devour pests, are of great benefit in agriculture.

The body length of the lacewing reaches 10 millimeters, and the wingspan is 30 millimeters. The eyes are golden-brilliant. During the day, lacewings fly reluctantly, sitting in the grass or on tree branches. At night they often fly to the light of lamps. They move slowly, and if you touch them, they emit an unpleasant odor.

Adult lacewings, some species, feed on nectar and pollen of plants. The lifespan of adult females reaches 2 months, the fertility of 100-200 eggs. The wings of the insect at rest are folded into a “house”. A characteristic feature of this insect, due to which it got its name, are protruding round eyes of a rich golden color with a bright shine.

Description of the insect

The common lacewing is a green midge with transparent wings. It belongs to the genus Chrysoperla, whose representatives prefer to feed on other insects, both larvae and adult midges. It is most active at night, and during the day it prefers to hide in secluded corners. Its distinctive feature is its transparent elongated wings. Their span in particularly large specimens can reach 3 cm, although the body does not exceed 6 mm. If you examine the wings in the light, you can see that they are streaked with a whole network of veins that shine in the light. The insect is common in regions with a climate suitable for its life: fleur-bearers cannot tolerate heat, which leads to their death, and at temperatures below approximately 15 °C they hibernate until warmer weather sets in. They are distributed throughout Europe with the exception of its northernmost latitudes. The common lacewing can also be found in Canada, the USA and some regions of Southeast Asia.

To wait out the cold winter, midges fly into outbuildings and human houses. There they climb into secluded places: for example, cracks in walls or furniture.

Reproduction

During her life, which lasts about 2 months, the female lacewing makes 2 clutches. Each of them contains 100–900 eggs.

Stages of insect development:

1. Eggs. They are attached to the underside of leaves by thin threads. At first the eggs are green, but then gradually darken.
2. Larvae. They appear after a few days and begin to actively feed. The length of their brown or reddish body is no more than 7 mm. They have a well-developed jaw apparatus. When attacking a victim, a paralytic poison is injected into their body.
3. A pupa that, after a few molts, becomes an adult flannel.
4. Imago, ready for procreation.

The larvae and adults are so voracious that cases of cannibalism are not uncommon among the species. In the conditions of the middle zone, only one generation of lacewings has time to appear per year, but in the southern regions up to 4 generations can have time to develop.

Types and varieties

At first glance, all midges are the same. But this only seems so because of their small size. There are dozens of varieties of midges, which are grouped into large groups. It’s quite difficult to explain what they look like, so it’s better to just look at the photo.

Note that white ones are practically never found in autumn and winter, since they cannot withstand cold temperatures. Therefore, if they are infested at home at this time of year, it is often enough to simply open the window to kill them. Unfortunately, this does not apply to brown and gray ones, so we’ll look at how to deal with them below after we get to know each other.

Drosophila

This is the most popular and widespread type of midge. These "friends" are also called fruit gnats or fruit gnats. As the name implies, they love fruits and vegetables, and if they are spoiled, then it’s just a Michelin star.

There are several ways they can appear:

• from the store along with purchases;
• from the window to the smell of spoiled food;
• in the soil of domestic flowers - the larvae can “sleep” there for a long time and then wake up.

Depending on the product in which the midges are found, they are even divided into different types:

• cereals;
• flour;
• fruit;
• onions and so on.

Along with its prevalence, this is also the most harmless type of midge. They:

• do not bite;
• they will not bring infection on their paws;
• are easily removed even with folk remedies.

It is important to know at what temperature onion/fruit midges die: they can only maintain their lives at above-zero temperatures. But both onions and fruits will not withstand minus temperatures

Sciarid

This is a separate type of fly that lives only in flowers. You can distinguish it from the previous species by color - sciarids are almost black. They are sometimes called fungus gnats because they look really similar.

The main source of infection is the ground. Since fresh soil is required when replanting plants, when choosing it you may stumble upon infected specimens. This does not appear outwardly and cannot be checked in advance. After the flower is transplanted, it is watered - this is where the sciarids become active.

They are safe for humans. Adults are also harmless to plants, but the larvae feed on the juices of the roots, which leads to damage to the plant. Young plants and seedlings are most at risk.

Sciarids can also infect neighboring flowers, so the fight against them must be comprehensive.

Aleroidida

In order not to pronounce this complex name every time, people came up with another name for this type of midge - whitefly. These midges are easily distinguished by their white wings. Whiteflies also chose plants as places to live and eat. But, unlike their previous “brothers,” these midges can cause irreparable harm to the plant, for example, infecting them with an infection or causing the formation of fungus.

It is as easy to become infected with whiteflies as with other types of midges:

• they can fly in through a window or door;
• you can buy contaminated soil or the flower itself;
• bring an infected flower from the yard into the house for the winter.

The whitefly is very afraid of the cold and dies at low temperatures (15 degrees and below).

What are the stages of development

Among the main stages of development of this insect are:

• Egg. The female lays eggs in the early morning or late evening, during the cool period. She does this in an interesting way. First, it releases a thread of liquid, which hardens in air, and then attaches an egg to the top of this “stick.” The masonry takes on the shape of a “bush”. This method of laying is determined by the fact that the larvae do not all hatch at the same time, and individuals that emerged from the egg earlier can eat the newcomers.
• Larva. The lacewing larva is very voracious and omnivorous. During its development, it undergoes 2-3 moults before pupating. The larvae feed in a specific way; they make a puncture in the prey insect, inject a paralyzing substance into it, and then suck out the vital juices.
• Doll. After passing through three stages, the larva turns into a pupa. It can be located inside a rolled leaf, under it, under the bark of a tree. The cocoon is white.

Lacewing larvae are quite voracious

• Adult. Towards the end of its development, the formed insect in the cocoon begins to move, gnaws through it and gets out. To carry out the mating process, an adult needs to eat. The lacewing retains the ability to lay eggs throughout its entire life span after hatching from the cocoon.

The life cycle of development from egg to adult insect usually takes 2 months.

Life activity

When the owners know the peculiarities of the lifestyle and behavior of the fleurs, then it will be easier for them to protect their homes from their invasion. This will also help gardeners, on the contrary, create favorable conditions for their cultivation.

Thus, the common lacewing has unique behavioral characteristics. Here are some of them:

• Maximum activity of adults is in the evening;
• does not tolerate prolonged exposure to direct sunlight;
• settles in shady and damp places: under leaves or in the grass;
• midges begin to crawl out of their shelters in spring at temperatures above 10°C;
• they flock to the bright light of electric lamps, thereby penetrating the house;
• lay several dozen eggs (on long threads) near aphid colonies.

The larvae spend the winter in attics, in cracks in houses or under the bark of trees. If the owners want to get rid of them, then efforts must be made to get them out of there.

These “defenders” can be found in a personal plot or vegetable garden. Those who work in greenhouses should also be attentive to the appearance of flannel plants.

Still, experts even recommend adding these “orderlies” to your garden, orchard or greenhouse. They will help get rid of dozens of pests.

Diet

In nature, there are two types of midges: predators and non-predatory individuals. The latter feed exclusively on non-living organisms: aphid secretions, pollen or flower nectar. When asked whether the lacewing is a pest or a protector, the answer can be unequivocal that it works for the benefit of gardeners. Its larvae eat over 80 varieties of pests, such as:

• caterpillars;
• spider and other types of mites;
• shield insects;
• aphids and their larvae;
• moths;
• Colorado potato beetle eggs;
• leafhoppers;
• wood borers;
• mole;
• Poisonous spider cocoons.

The midge feeds only on soft-bodied insects. Over the course of 7 days, each individual destroys up to 200 units of aphids, insects or eggs. Females produce between 200 and 400 eggs in their lifetime.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgTsnWRDGWc

Midges in the country: the most effective means to combat harmful insects

When planting seedlings on his plot, every summer resident dreams of getting a rich harvest. But unfortunately, insect pests often interfere with this: they gnaw the roots, spoil the fruits and suck out the nutritious juices from the plants. Such parasites include the midge, and despite its small size, it can quite seriously damage both seedlings and those crops that have already gained growth. So, let's figure out why midges are dangerous in the country, and what ways you can get rid of them.

Geological history

Lacewings have been known since the time of dinosaurs. The oldest were found in Jurassic deposits near the village of Daohugou (Ningcheng County, Inner Mongolia, China), they are 165 million years old. In the Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous there were already a lot of them, in other places their fossilized traces made up about a third of the traces of lacewings; most of the lacewings were then from the genus Mesypochrysa, which is part of the extinct subfamily Limaiinae. In the early Eocene, Limaiinae disappear, presumably due to a lack of camouflage in the face of increased numbers of ants, which protected aphids from lacewings and destroyed the latter. Limaiinae is replaced by the subfamily Nothochrysinae, which dominated until the beginning of the Miocene; their numbers decreased presumably due to the lack of an organ that responds to ultrasound, with the help of which bats began to hunt lacewings for some time. Modern lacewings from the subfamily Nothochrysinae make up 3 percent of all lacewings, the rest belong to the subfamilies Chrysopinae and Apochrysinae, members of which have an organ that detects ultrasound.

Butterflies

These small insects with transparent wings usually appear in the apartment in the bathroom or toilet. Butterflies are small flies with dark fringed wings. They are clearly recognizable due to the special shape of their wings.

The photo shows a common butterfly (Psychodidae):

Butterfly larvae develop in garbage, basements and sewers, and adult flies can scatter throughout apartments, laying eggs in trash cans and dust in closets.

Sometimes in an apartment you can notice very small insects that vaguely resemble cockroaches or bedbugs. These may be their early larvae (nymphs), sometimes having a translucent chitinous cover.

The photo shows a recently moulted red cockroach, which looks almost white immediately after molting:

This is what a bedbug larva looks like:

Such larvae can enter from neighboring apartments through ventilation ducts or through doors, settling or escaping from persecution. If such insects are found in single copies, they can be easily destroyed. If a room is massively infested, they are found as often as adult insects; in this case, a thorough disinfestation of the entire room should be carried out.

A clear example of how small insects in an apartment can seriously ruin life

Where do midges come from in an apartment?

Very often, homeowners are interested in why small midges appeared in the apartment. It is surprising that these insects appear even in those apartments whose doors and windows are tightly closed. To fight midges, you need to find out where the pests come from. Below you can see their photos and names.

Fruit midges

Most often, fruit flies appear where there are dirty or rotten vegetables/fruits, plant remains, and sour food. Judging by the existence of onion midges, many of them prefer to breed in this vegetable.

In most fruits, eggs appear at the moment of fruit formation. They patiently wait for conditions suitable for their development: the process of decay activates their growth, after which a huge number of fruit flies are hatched. At the larval stage, they feed on spoiled foods.

Fruit midges

An adult midge lives very short - only about 24 hours. The destruction of midges in an apartment is made difficult by the fact that they multiply very quickly in the presence of suitable food and environment in the form of rotten fruit. As a result, a whole swarm of these insects can appear from one individual. The most effective method of control is to eliminate the causes that contribute to their appearance.

The reasons for the appearance of midges in an apartment may be other. Poor hygiene of the trash can, untimely emptying of it. Scraps that end up in a bucket can be contaminated with insect larvae that develop as the scraps rot. If food remains are on top of the rest of the garbage, a cloud of flying parasites will form in the near future.

Midges in the kitchen

Not only fruit flies can live in an apartment, but also other varieties of this parasite that feed on aquarium sediment and debris from pet cages. Sometimes small midges appear near the bowls of cats and dogs. Failure to wash the plate on time, regularly leaving food on the plates - and they will become permanent residents of such a house.

Midges in indoor flowers

Midges in indoor plants

Indoor plants are one of the reasons for the appearance of midges. Very often, pests of indoor flowers develop as a result of watering plants with tea leaves, pouring out its remains as fertilizer

Black midges love moisture, so it is very important to keep plants moderately watered. A green pet may suffer from sciarid larvae, which like to destroy roots

You need to get rid of midges in indoor flowers as quickly as possible, otherwise the plant may suffer.

Sewer midges

There are numerous types of midges, one of them is the sewer midge. Food particles entering the sewer begin to decompose, getting stuck in the siphon or on the bends of the pipes. This provokes the proliferation of new hordes of insects. The second condition of vile life is also observed here - dampness. It is very difficult to remove midges from an apartment that have settled in the sewer, since it is often not possible to remove the source of their appearance.

Sometimes pests are found near a leaking toilet, since here, too, ideal living conditions with high humidity are created for them. It's also difficult to get rid of them.

Midges enter the apartment with food from shops and markets, but their further life in the apartment depends on maintaining order and cleanliness of the house, and timely cleaning of the sewerage system. With the right actions, getting rid of them is easy.

Small species of beetles

Small domestic beetles include skin beetles, grinders, and beetles. They damage various products, can feed on paper and spoil books. Carpet beetles also damage fur coats and woolen clothing.

In the photo there is a bread grinder, one of the smallest insects in the apartment:

This beetle reaches 1.5 mm in length and does not feed as an adult, although it makes passages in many products, damaging them. But its larva feeds on almost everything, including paper and fibers of semi-synthetic clothing.

Bread damaged by borer larvae becomes poisonous to humans. You can't eat it!

Very small insects, also often found in apartments - carpet beetles, capable of making holes in fur coats and furs, “cutting” carpets and eating the bindings of old books:

All of the above small beetles can be quite difficult to remove from the apartment. If their larvae are found in food, all supplies should be thrown away, and bedside tables and shelves should be treated with insecticidal agents. In cabinets and on bookshelves, things and objects are treated with aerosol insecticides, and then it is useful to place anti-moth sections here, which are quite effective against beetles.

How to get rid of black midges at home

Of course, if you take preventive measures in advance, you won’t have to fight midges. What to do to prevent black midges from appearing on seedlings?

If none of the methods helped you, and the insects remain on the seedlings, then you will have to transplant the seedlings to another soil.

When watering plants, inspect the seedlings every time to see if there are any midges on them. At the first signs, immediately begin to fight them. In the early stages it will be easier to exterminate midges than in the later stages, when their flickering before your eyes gets on your nerves and spoils the seedlings.

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