Suhpalacsa flavipes (Yellow Owlfly)

Gold Coast Antlions, Lacewings, and Allies (Neuroptera)Nymphes myrmeleonides (Blue Eyes Lacewing) Suhpalacsa flavipes (Yellow Owlfly)

The Yellow Owlfly (Suhpalacsa flavipes) is an Australian species of insect, belonging to the family Ascalaphidae. Sometimes spelt Yellow Owl-fly, this species is in the order Neuroptera (their closest relative is the Antlion).

Whilst they look similar to dragonflies (order Odonata), the difference between Odonate and Owlflies are the way that Owlflies fold their wings over the body at rest and by their heavy, clubbed antennae.

Suhpalacsa flavipes is black in colour with yellow markings. Head and legs are pale yellow with dark brown-grey eyes.

On wings the pterostigma is lemon yellow (the yellow dot near the wing tips), on the hindwings the pterostigma is yellow with a dark basal spot. The pterostigma refers to a group of specialised cells in the outer wings of insects, which are often thickened or coloured, and stand out from other cells. The wings are relative broad.

The Suhpalacsa flavipes resting posture, as in the majority of species, is characteristic in that the abdomen is held at an angle away from the thorax and wings.

Current observations (Atlas of Living Australia), depict Suhpalacsa flavipes from Victoria (north of Melbourne), through ACT and New South Wales, into Queensland (through the Gold Coast, Brisbane and as far north as Maryborough).

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• Scientific classification
• Kingdom: Animalia
• Phylum: Arthropoda
• Class: Insecta
• Informal: Pterygotes
• Order: Neuroptera
• Superfamily: Myrmeleontoidea
• Family: Ascalaphidae
• Tribe: Ascalaphini
• Genus: Suhpalacsa
• Species: Suhpalacsa flavipes

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Gold Coast Antlions, Lacewings, and Allies (Neuroptera)Nymphes myrmeleonides (Blue Eyes Lacewing) Suhpalacsa flavipes (Yellow Owlfly)

Gold Coast InsectsAntlions, Lacewings, and Allies (Neuroptera) Ants Bees Beetles Bugs (Hemiptera & Heteroptera) Buterflies & Moths Flies (Diptera) Wasps

Gold Coast RegionFauna

QueenslandGold Coast Region Lamington National Park Southern Downs QLD