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Chrysomelidae
Looks like a caterpillar. About 1,5 cm long. 6 strong legs. Covered with a kind of slime that looks like small brown worms or spaghetti. Found several same Individuals underneath a leaf together 5 a 6 species. Most where just hanging on the leaf,this one was on the move and act like normal caterpillar. Black head.
19 Comments
Many thanks all for the comments and nice words.
Mark Ridgway - Felix Fleck - AntónioGinjaGinja -Marta RubioTexeira - SukanyaDatta - Vipul Ramanuj and Christine Y.
Very nice spotting KitchilPus,congrats on the well deserved SOTW and thanks for sharing
Well deserved SOTW! Congrats.
Congrats on the SOTW.
Thanks Cristine Y,only because off your info it get his/her ID this and chosen as SOTW.
Happy to share the spotting with you,and with members Project Noah.
Congratulations KitchilPus on SOTW for this awesome spotting!
Congratulations KitchilPus! Your leaf beetle larva with its defense shield has been voted Spotting of the Week! We love this spotting for its careful documentation and all the educational and appreciative comments from our community.
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Your spotting has been nominated for the Spotting of the Week. The winner will be chosen by the Project Noah Rangers based on a combination of factors including: uniqueness of the shot, status of the organism (for example, rare or endangered), quality of the information provided in the habitat and description sections. There is a subjective element, of course; the spotting with the highest number of Ranger votes is chosen. Congratulations on being nominated!
Happy to help :). I had an entomology professor in grad school who delighted in teaching us about exceptionally unusual insects, and feces-wearing larvae particularly stuck in my mind.
I was thinking that it was fecal matter but I did not know it was actually a defence mechanism. Wow! Thanks for sharing this knowledge with us😊
SukanyaDatta , you welcome.
Thanks again Christine,learn new facts again.Amazing nature,interrested readings also the links attached.
Thanks for that.
Learnt about fecal-shields for the first time. Thank you, KitchilPus for sharing the spotting and Christine Y for the links. Mother Nature is awesome...PN is too :)
Not sure the species, but it does appear to be a beetle larva carrying a fecal defense shield, aka a scatopillar.
You're welcome KitchilPus. Here are some links with pictures of larvae similar to yours: http://springfieldmn.blogspot.com/2013/1...
https://www.earthtouchnews.com/wtf/wtf/b...
Thanks for sharing this unique spotting!
Thanks for info Christine,really no idea about this.Found several like that one hanging underneath a leaf just restless.See picture other spotting.
Many thanks for feedback.
If it is a beetle larva, the gray stuff could be frass, which they sometimes "wear" to deter predation. Although, I've never seen frass look quite this gross...
Cool spotting, looks like it might be a beetle larva.