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Appeared to be a single organism with soft 'spines' that looked somewhat like lichen. No others were seen whilst we were surveying the grassland that day. No appendages were visible. This may be an invertebrate or a lichen. Suggestions have included a gall, ladybird larvae and lichen.
Found in grassland near Hull, low down in the thatch of tall grasses (Yorkshire fog & false oat-grass chiefly present), on a dead blade of grass.
Spotted on Aug 14, 2012
Submitted on Aug 30, 2012
4 Comments
Cool. Cordyceps and similar are just freaky. In a good way.
An ID from iSpot I have received is:
"It’s a fungus-infected insect. The fungus is Hirsutella (or something near that). Hirsutella are the imperfect (= asexual, = mould) stage of some species of Ophiocordyceps or Torrubiella. The same order as Cordyceps militaris which produces the orange sexual fruitbodies on Lepidoptera caterpillars." by Malcolm Storey (of http://www.bioimages.org.uk/).
Thanks Alice, it is quite similar to the mealybug destroyer. Perhaps it is related? Do you know of any similar organisms?
Looks like a mealybug destroyer, a Good guy!