Mystery Bug
Earl brings us a mystery bug today. He sent it to me wondering what it was. I took one look at it and said “What the heck is that?”
Yep. That’s me, the consummate professional.
It’s about 3mm long. The background is Earl’s arm, which tells us that he was walking along, camera in hand. Furthermore, we know that he was walking along with his camera already set to macro mode, or he can fiddle his camera into macro mode with one hand.
If I were to hazard a guess for classification, I would have to say that in life this bug was probably a member of Class Insecta, but now it lives on in undeath as a skeleton bug, which puts it in a completely different kingdom and phylum, Kingdom Nosferati (Undead critters) and Phylum Hydradonta¹ (Skeletal critters).
¹ Yes, I made that up. Literally, “Hydra’s Teeth”. If you’re over 35 or have really cool parents, you’ll understand.
Slowly getting the site back onto an even keel. It's nice to get back into the old posting rhythm.
JFargo said,
March 25, 2008 @ 10:40 am
Hey Earl, it didn’t bite you, did it? Otherwise, I’m going to have to assume that you’ve been transformed into a zombie. This little thing (that you’ve captured amazingly well in this photo) is obviously the start of the zombie apocalypse.
Entr0physt said,
March 25, 2008 @ 10:56 am
It’s a Corythucha ciliata (white lace bug). Harmless to animals, Death to sycamore trees and some species of oaks.
http://www.marietta.edu/~biol/biomes/images/deciduous/lace_bug_2430b.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d7/Corythucha.ciliata.1.jpg/800px-Corythucha.ciliata.1.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b2/Tiny_unknown_insect.jpg/553px-Tiny_unknown_insect.jpg
Scott said,
March 25, 2008 @ 12:12 pm
Dang, zombie bug would have been cooler. Still a pretty little thing.
AJ said,
March 25, 2008 @ 12:13 pm
Wow, they’re very alien looking… but so beautiful!
Earl said,
March 25, 2008 @ 3:36 pm
I think it WAS some sort of ghost bug; it stayed put for over 3 minutes and out of 10 shots I could not find one that perfectly focused on the little guy.
Still…He left a little lump where he was sitting…Feeling a little ill…Maybe if I just…lie down…for a…..
…Braaaiinnnsss…..
peggysue1971 said,
March 25, 2008 @ 4:46 pm
Wow! What part of the country is this from or should I say, what country? I feel a short story looming…wait, I think I read this somewhere….no, there were no Corythucha ciliata’s in that story…hmmmm
Entr0physt said,
March 27, 2008 @ 7:52 am
BraaaAAAAaaaaiiiiins!!
http://www.brains4zombies.com/
SamWibatt said,
March 27, 2008 @ 8:08 pm
Hydradonta! Ray Harryhausen FTW!