Why are some lacewing eggs attached to the ends of stalks?

Female neuropterans, such as the green lacewing, attach their eggs to the ends of slender stalks to protect their offspring. Because the larvae are voracious predators, this physical separation prevents them from devouring their unhatched siblings after they emerge from their own eggs.12

To create these structures, the female secretes a viscid fluid from her abdomen onto a surface and slowly raises her body, drawing the fluid into a filament that rapidly hardens. The egg is then attached to the top of this stalk by its posterior end.2