Is the Iberian lacewing Chrysopa regalis a semivoltine species?

.1 Adults of the lacewing Chrysopa regalis Navás were caught in north Spain, Huesca province, Aragon. 2 Their progeny reared in the laboratory under short‐ and long‐day light conditions at 20°C, entered a long diapause as prepupae within the cocoon. 3 Transferred outdoors after spinning up, only a few (12%) became active again in the following spring, whereas the rest remained in diapause for one more year and waited for the end of the second spring to resume their morphogenetic development. Thus most of the studied strain exhibited a 2–year life cycle. This semivoltine strategy is new to chrysopid biology. 4 The predaceous larval phase did not exceed 3% of the total individual lifespan, though the duration of the free‐living larval instars averaged 19.9±1.1 (SD) days. 5 During the extended diapause, weight loss was very small, no more than 6.6% of the initial weight, 16.9±2.7 (SD) mg, at the end of diapause, and 8.8% at the time of pupal ecdysis.