Is it butterfly, earwig, moth or dragonfly?
Photographed last week in Southern Italy. We’re all stumped. Can you help please?
Andrew
Hi Andrew,
As always, when we are puzzled, we turn to the guy who knows, Eric Eaton. Here is his identification: “Gorgeous photo of an owlfly in the family Ascalaphidae, order Neuroptera. I don’t have a field guide to European insects, but there are lots of images of this species available in books and online. Owlflies are predatory both as fast-flying adults, and as truly ugly larvae (which resemble flattened versions of antlion larvae). Neat insects. Eric”
Thanks. That’s a relief as aeveryone thought I’d created it in Adobe!