Neuroptera larvae

I won’t even try to guess whether these alien beings are owlfly or antlion larvae, but consider that two years ago my discovery of these made me think aliens had in fact landed, and I’m just happy I can ID these weird suckers…to a point.

I was doing my nightly “flip everything over to see what turns up” rounds when I stumbled on these guys. They looked like chunks of dirt,  but those gorgeous mandibles were a dead giveaway.

So, although these things seem to have just landed from somewhere in outerspace, they are just the larvae of lacewings, antlions, and owlflies in the order Neuroptera. (More on that later ;))