Freshwater-sponge-predator
Guides
Sisyra apicalis
spongillafly
Sisyra apicalis is a species of spongillafly in the family Sisyridae, first described by Banks in 1908. Spongillflies are a small family of aquatic insects with specialized larval biology tied to freshwater sponges. The species has a broad Neotropical and Nearctic distribution, spanning from North America through Central America and the Caribbean to South America, with documented records across Brazil including the semiarid Caatinga biome.
Sisyra nigra
Black Spongillafly, Black Spongefly
Sisyra nigra is a small lacewing in the family Sisyridae, commonly known as the Black Spongillafly. It is the most widely distributed of the three British Sisyridae species and occurs across the Holarctic region. The species has a unique life cycle with fully aquatic larvae that are specialized predators of freshwater sponges, while adults are terrestrial and dispersive. S. nigra is notable for its distinctive achiasmatic sex chromosome segregation mechanism during male meiosis, which differs from other Neuroptera and supports the basal phylogenetic position of Sisyridae within the order.