At the 13th International Symposium of Neuropterology in Laufen, Germany, 2018, I was invited by John Oswald, the creator and developer of the Lacewing Digital Library (LDL), to compile what is known about the neuropterid fauna of Ireland into one of the new fauna modules on the LDL. At this time, I was working at University College Cork, Ireland and had gathered some information on what neuropterids were present in the country, and therefore was in a good situation to put the resource together.
The work forms part of the Lacewing Digital Library’s (an excellent resource for information on world Neuropterida, with an extensive guide to the species and all literature published about these fascinating insects) World Neuropterida Fauna Modules, which aims to document neuropterids from countries around the world.
The module comprises an introduction – which briefly discusses the number and distribution of the neuropterids of Ireland and the history of research, an interactive faunal list – where you can search for species taxonomically or geographically, and an up-to-date reference list of publications citing Irish Neuropterida.
Irish Neuropterida Quick facts:
- 35 confirmed species of Neuropterida are reported from Ireland
- One additional species – Chrysopa perla – requires further confirmation
- Neuroptera (lacewings) represented by 5 families
- Megaloptera (alderflies) represented by 1 family
- No Raphidioptera (snakeflies) have been found in Ireland.
