About Libelloides macaronius (Scopoli, 1763)
Adult Libelloides macaronius are large insects that somewhat resemble dragonflies. Their body, eyes, and long clubbed antennae are all black. Their wings are bright yellow with black spots, and the forewings are partly transparent near the wingtips. The abdomen ends differently between sexes: males have a pair of hooked claspers, while females have a short ovipositor. When at rest, adult individuals often perch with their wings outspread, just like dragonflies. They fly rapidly and follow a rather straight path over grass or bushes. This species has the excellent eyesight typical of predatory day-flying insects, even though its large eyes are of the superposition type that is normally found in nocturnal insects. Libelloides macaronius occurs in central, eastern, and southern Europe, as well as Palearctic Asia. They inhabit relatively open areas, including farm meadows, pasture, and drier, wilder grassland and scrubland. Adults are fast-flying diurnal predators that use their legs to catch prey while in flight. They have robust mandibles that can pierce the exoskeletons of heavily-sclerotised prey. They feed on a wide variety of other insects, including aphids, beetles, hemipteran bugs, cockroaches, dipteran flies, and neuropterans. They are preyed on by insect-eating birds and spiders.
