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Golden Tortoise Beetle Larvae

DeepWoodsDeepWoods Registered Users Posts: 27 Big grins
in Holy Macro

Golden Tortoise Beetle Larvae Charidotella sexpunctata
Observed feeding on Ivy-leaved Morning-Glory (Ipomoea hederacea).
Specimen would raise and then lower it's fecal "shell" that it was carrying.

Golden Tortoise Beetle Larvae: Larvae are broad and flattened and adorned with branched spines. Their thoracic legs are short and thick, and unlike many chrysomelids they lack an anal proleg. The color of the larva is yellowish to reddish-brown. There are three larval instars. The larvae display the habit of carrying their cast skins and fecal material attached to spines arising from the posterior end of their body, a structure called an "anal fork." The anal fork is movable, and is usually used to hold the debris over the back of the body, forming a "shield" which deters predation. Larvae mature in 14 to 21 days.

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    Lord VetinariLord Vetinari Registered Users Posts: 15,900 Major grins

    Lovely shots and observations- what a weird looking creature

    Brian V.

    Brian V.
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/lordv/
    http://www.lordv.smugmug.com/
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    DeepWoodsDeepWoods Registered Users Posts: 27 Big grins

    @Lord Vetinari said:
    Lovely shots and observations- what a weird looking creature

    Brian V.

    Thanks Brian!...and I agree...weird looking for sure and strange habit.

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    e6filmusere6filmuser Registered Users Posts: 3,378 Major grins

    Well done. You almost got one looking tidy!

    I get the common green species. (Not, so far, this year).

    Harold

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    spanky117abspanky117ab Registered Users Posts: 263 Major grins

    Very nice, ive captured something similar to this but never had any idea what it was.

    My Smugmug galleryhttps://mikemcneil.smugmug.com/

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    DeepWoodsDeepWoods Registered Users Posts: 27 Big grins

    @e6filmuser said:
    Well done. You almost got one looking tidy!

    I get the common green species. (Not, so far, this year).

    Harold

    Thanks!...hopefully you will see some there soon.

    @spanky117ab said:
    Very nice, ive captured something similar to this but never had any idea what it was.

    Thanks!!...I had never seen these before so I had no idea what it was at first..Nature is crazy and so very interesting!

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