thorny lacewing

plural thorny lacewings

1. Any insect of the family Rhachiberothidae.

   We recently proposed a new genus of Thorny Lacewing (Insecta, Neuroptera, Rhachiberothidae) from the Eocene amber of France.

   2005, Bulletin de la Société entomologique de France, volume 110, page 128

   2 more examples

   The family Rachiberothidae has been of considerable controversy and has been considered at different times during its history as a subfamily of Berothidae (Tjeder, 1959), or even of Mantispidae (Willmann, 1990b, 1004b). The "thorny lacewings" generally resemble other berothids except in the raptorial forelegs, which are convergent with those of the mantispids. While thorny lacewings are today confined to sub-Saharan Africa (U. Aspock and Mansell, 1994; U. Aspöck and H. Aspöck, 1997), they were clearly distributed throughout the world in the Cretaceous and perhaps into the Tertiary as well, disappearing from other regions apparently during the Eocene-Oligocene transition.

   2005, David Grimaldi, Evolution of the Insects, page 356

   The hemerobiiformia is the most diverse group of Neuroptera and comprises 11 Recent families: Polystoechotidae (giant lacewings), Ithonidae (moth lacewings), Osmylidae (osmylids), Chrysopiidae (green lacewings), Hemerobiidae (brown lacewings), Coniopterygidae (dusty lacewings), Sysiridae (spongillaflies), Dilaridae (pleasing lacewings), Mantispidae (mantispids), Rachiberothidae (thorny lacewings) and Berothidae (beaded lacewings).

   2007, “11: Insects of the Crato Formation”, in David M. Martill, Günter Bechly, Robert F. Loveridge, editors, The Crato Fossil Beds of Brazil: Window Into an Ancient World, page 335