Pest profile

Dustywings

Coniopterygidae (dustywing family) · Neuroptera: Coniopterygidae[2]

Dustywings are among the smallest lacewings, and their powdery white wings make them easy to mistake for the whiteflies they eat.[1]

Dustywing adult with gray-white, powder-coated wings held rooflike over its body and long beaded antennae, on tree bark
Dustywing adult with gray-white, powder-coated wings held rooflike over its body and long beaded antennae, on tree bark. (c) thomas_oswald, some rights reserved (CC BY) — via iNaturalist, CC BY 4.0

How to identify it

  • Adults are about 1/8 to 5/16 inch long from head to wing tip, with long, thin antennae made of many beadlike segments.[1]
  • Gray to white powdery wax covers the wings and often the body, head and legs.[1]
  • At rest the wings are held like a roof over the body.[1]
  • Larvae are tapered, segmented and 1/5 inch or less, with mouthparts too short to see without magnification.[1]

Look-alikes

Look-alikeHow to tell them apart
WhitefliesDustywings have much longer antennae and legs than whiteflies, which suck plant sap and are their prey.[1]
Brown and green lacewingsDustywings have few wing veins and no more than two crossveins along the front edge; their larvae lack the obvious pointed jaws of lacewing larvae.[1]

Where it lives

Dustywings live mostly on shrubs and trees; California alone has at least 28 species in 7 genera.[1]

US map: public records from 19 states since 1990 (GBIF).

Biology and life cycle

A female lays about 200 eggs singly on bark or leaves, and larvae pass through three stages before pupating.[1]

Egg to adult takes six to eight weeks in warm weather, with two or more generations a year.[1]

They overwinter as adults in sheltered spots or as resting larvae in flat, round silk cocoons on bark or under leaves.[1]

Adults are active mostly at dawn and dusk, fluttering slowly between leaves, and they come to lights.[1]

Damage and signs

  • Adults and larvae eat aphids, mealybugs, mites, phylloxera, psyllids, scales and whiteflies.[1]
  • One larva can eat about 150 to 300 aphid eggs, young nymphs or mites before it pupates.[1]

Health risk

UC IPM describes dustywings only as predators of small arthropods and says nothing of any risk to people.[1]

Control

Prevention

Look before you spray for whiteflies: a white, powdery insect with long antennae and legs may be a dustywing.[1]

Biological control

Many species stick to particular plants, such as junipers, and can be important natural controls of the pests found there.[1]

Common questions

Are these tiny white flying insects whiteflies?
Not necessarily. Dustywings look similar but have much longer legs and antennae, and they eat whiteflies.[1]
Why haven't I noticed dustywings before?
They're very small, look like whiteflies and fly mostly at dawn and dusk.[1]

Sources

  1. University of California Statewide IPM Program, “Dustywings (Natural Enemies Gallery).” ipm.ucanr.edu/natural-enemies/dustywings/ (accessed 2026-10-06)
  2. iNaturalist, “Coniopterygidae taxon page (order and family).” www.inaturalist.org/taxa/245154 (accessed 2026-10-06)

Updated 2026-10-14. Built from sourced records. Spot an error? Tell us.