Life history comparison of two green lacewing species Chrysoperla johnsoni and Chrysoperla carnea (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae).

We investigated the life histories of two green lacewing species, Chrysoperla johnsoni Henry, Wells, and Pupedis from western North America, and Chrysoperla carnea (Stephens) (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae) from western Europe in the laboratory. There were both similarities and differences in their life history characteristics. C. johnsoni exhibited a significantly longer developmental time for egg, first instar, and pupal stage than C. carnea. C. carnea exhibited a significantly shorter egg to adult developmental time than C. johnsoni. Except for the pupal stage, the survival of all other life history stages was not species-specific. All C. carnea pupae were able to develop into adults, whereas only 92% of adult eclosion was observed from C. johnsoni pupae. There was no difference in egg to adult survival between the two species. Adult longevity was not species- or gender-specific. Sex ratio of emerged adults was ≈50% in both species. C. johnsoni had a longer preoviposition period than C. carnea, while the oviposition period was similar for both species. C. carnea had higher lifetime fecundity and fertility than C. johnsoni, as measured by total number of eggs laid and production of fertile eggs, respectively. Egg viability did not differ between the two species. Intrinsic rates of increase (rm) for C. carnea and C. johnsoni were 0.161 and 0.132, respectively. All lacewings used in this experiment were laboratory reared under environmental conditions similar to field as possible. This is the first available information on the life history parameters of C. johnsoni.