Coniopterygidae
| Dustywings Temporal range: Late Jurassic - Recent |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Neuroptera |
| Suborder: | Hemerobiiformia |
| Superfamily: | Coniopterygoidea |
| Family: | Coniopterygidae |
| Subfamilies | |
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Aleuropteryginae |
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Aleuropteryginae
Brucheiserinae
Coniopteryginae
and see text
The dustywings, Coniopterygidae, are a family of Pterygota (winged insects) of the net-winged insect order (Neuroptera). About 460 living species are known. These tiny insects can usually be determined to genus with a hand lens according to their wing venation, but to distinguish species, examination of the genitals by microscope is usually necessary.
In general habitus, the adults are quite unlike other net-winged insects. With their small size - wingspan is between 1.8 and 5 millimetres - and their translucent brownish wings usually covered with the namesake whitish dust of waxy scales, they are at the first glance more similar to whiteflies (Aleyrodidae) which are true bugs and thus among the Pterygota not at all closely related to net-winged insects. A distinguishing feature is that like many other Neuroptera, dustywings carry their wings nearly side-by-side when at rest, whereas whiteflies carry them almost flat across the back. There are no more than two veins across the costal field and few cross-veins in general - unique among the living net-winged insects, dustywings do not actually have the "net-winged" venation. Some Coniopterygidae, like the genus Conwentzia, have only vestigial hindwings; others, like Helicoconis females, are completely wingless.
Dustywings are strongly associated with woody plants, on and around which they usually spend their entire lives. Females deposit their eggs singly on bark or leaves. Dustywing larvae are around 3.5 mm long. Their mouthparts consist of short, straight sucking tubes covered by the labrum (upper "lip"). They are crepuscular and dwell on shrubs and trees, where they feed on small invertebrates like scale insects, aphids and mites, as well as on arthropod eggs; the mouth tubes are used for sucking fluids from the prey. There are usually two generations each year.
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