#1500 - Calomantispa venusta
Something special for #1500 - a freakin’ Lycid-mimicking Mantispid Lacewing!
Spotted by Karen Palmer in Brisbane - which extends the known range at least as far as the Atlas of Living Australia records go, too. The other recorded sightings there are from the wetter parts of New South Wales, Victoria, and Tasmania.
Unlike other subfamilies of Mantispid (which may be parasitoids of bee, wasp, and scarab larvae, or ectoparasites and brood parasites of spiders), Calomantispine larvae are active predators of small invertebrates, and so are the adults. After pupation, they emerge as these stunning insects, faking hard parallel-sided wings, and displaying the same warning colours adopted by Lycid beetles, and the hundreds of other insects that pretend to be Lycid beetles.
