A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife
Chrysopidae
The larvae are flat and elongated (alligator-like) with large jaws. Debris-carrying larvae cover themselves with bits of litter, perhaps to deter predators such as lady beetles.
My yard
9 Comments
Hi Rieko. Not all lacewing moth larva do this but green lacewings seem to be very good at it. There are some other insect larva that do it, such as tortoise beetles. They end up looking very different according to what debris they carry; here is another spotting of one: http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/309...
Amazing!
Very interesting. Do they always do this?
Thank you, Jacob, Dez, Noel, Ursula and Ava. Ursula, the larva of the lacewing moth does not yet fly and covering itself in debris doesn't seem to weigh it down too much either for walking. It was BugGuide that alerted me to what I was seeing; I had never heard of this before either. The insect world is fascinating.
Amazing.
what? what a cool creature! :) how does it fly, because i can't seem to find where to put its parts?
Interesting!
Super sweet!
Fantastic macros, Maria!