Adult insects are known for their fascinating and complex eyes, which allow them to accomplish remarkable sensory feats when performing functions such as searching for food or mates. In many insect larvae, however, these eyes have not yet developed.

New fossil finds reveal that insect larvae developed such highly specialized eyes during evolutionary history in at least two further cases. This occurred among the larvae of distant relatives of antlions—that is to say, lacewings. An expert in fossil insect larvae, Haug made this discovery together with her research team.

The fossils were preserved in amber about 100 million years ago, which allowed the team to conduct detailed investigations and measurements. They found that the size and orientation of the larval eyes are comparable to those of modern antlions and enable similar optical resolution.