Nothochrysa capitata - One of these distinctive brown-coloured lacewings in my garden moth trap on the ace lacewing night of 25 July 2019, the first time I've trapped one here. I've only seen this species once before, at Holt Lowes in 2017. Incidentally this species is sometimes known as the Black Lacewing - I have no idea why as it's clearly brown and not black, except that calling it a Brown Lacewing would invite confusion with Hemerobiidae. It's the only member of the entire order for which I've seen a species-specific vernacular name; I'm all up for assigning vernacular names to species but this one seems a rather peculiar choice.
Nothochrysa capitata, North Elmham, 25th July 2019
Nothochrysa fulviceps - The pinnacle of an already phenomenal lacewing night was catching not one but 2 of these impressive, very large and highly distinctive lacewings, on the night of 25th July 2019 (the same night as the Nothochrysa capitata above and the highest counts of most of the other green lacewings). Although not likely to be overlooked by anyone with the slightest interest in lacewing recording there is only one previous record from Norfolk, a presumed migrant Paul Eele caught at Titchwell in July 2015 which was one of 5 found at 3 sites across England and Wales that month. That influx of records increased the total number of British records by a third so this must be a truly scarce (or at least a very hard to find) species in the UK. My 2 turned up on a warm night with thunder storms and coincided with exceptional numbers of other species of green lacewings. Given the location (inland and poor at attracting migrant lepidoptera) I think it is very unlikely that these were migrants. Presumably there is a population of these nearby and they are simply hard to catch? My moth trap was quite flooded from the storms and one of the 2 fulviceps was stuck in the water in the bottom of the trap - here are some photos of the drier individual:
Nothochrysa fulviceps, North Elmham, 25th July 2019
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