Sunday evening, 7/24. This dramatic-looking insect is superficially similar to Lacewings of the Order Neuroptera, but the latest consensus is that they are a more ancient group and are placed in the Order Raphidioptera. When it is called a living fossil, like the Horseshoe Crab, or a plant called Horsetails, it means that today's extant forms closely resemble those in the fossil record from many thousands of years ago. In the case of the Raphidioptera, that would be around 140 million years ago, well before the extinction of the dinosaurs - that is, the dinosaurs other than today's birds, which are dinosaurs. Also, well before Noah's Ark, which most Ark-believers place at less than 10,000 years ago. I wonder if any Snakeflies got on board that vessel
Just a few days after granting myself a sabbatical, due to lots of school work and installing new flooring and painting the interior of our home, the above Snakefly landed and got stuck in a freshly spackled windowsill in my office. I just had to take some pictures and post one here. I almost got further carried away when my son found a Hummingbird Moth trapped in the globe of one of our porch lights. We took the time to free it, but no photos. Needed to get back to aforementioned works in progress.
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