What is this thing? It looks like an antlion larva, but it doesn't live in a pit. Instead it carries bits of debris on its back and bears a pair of mandible that pack a considerable pinch for a creature less than centimetre long. You can see it trying to bite off a piece of my duck.
Jac thinks it's a lacewing larva. They are also known as aphid wolfs!
Found you through the Circus of the Spineless carnival. I wonder if this might be an owlfly larva (same suborder as lacewing). Says Bugguide.Net: "Larvae resemble those of ant-lions, but have a 'finger-like appendage' on the side of each segment. Some genera actively cement sand and debris onto their bodies as camouflage. Pupation occurs in a silk cocoon in leaf litter."
Posted by: Elissa Malcohn | 06 June 2006 at 11:50 AM
Neuroptera larva. They can have shelter as well and we can find them on stems.
Posted by: | 03 October 2007 at 02:34 AM