The Junk Bug
I Have Never Seen A Bug Like This!
First I took pictures and peeled away the dead pieces of bugs and took more pictures, plus a video! Yeah, I am that kind of woman...hahahaha
My daughter brought a jar with a bit of dirt in it and said it was bug. She swore it was a bug that covered itself in dead bugs and I said, "No Way!" Hoping that this was not true because she found it in her bathroom. If it was a bug I will never go in that bathroom again! Just kidding, the reason everyone brings their bugs and animals to me to either heal, kill, or find out what it might be is because I am not easily grossed out or scared. I am so curious, even if I am grossed out or scared and I don't let my emotional state get in the way of finding out the answer.
I dived into the internet and went fishing for information. I looked up insects that cover their bodies in the dead bodies of their prey.
Aphid Lion
This looks like a bit of dust you would find in a corner of a room. However this is really a cover of dead bugs for a vicious killer called the Junk Bug or Aphid Lion.
The adult Lion Aphid is a pretty green winged insect that reminds me of a fairy with lacy delicate wings. You will find the lacewing flying around your porch nightlight. It is not a killer like it's larva, which are viscous killers.
The larva stage of the lacewing is ugly, like someone's worst nightmare if you were the size of an ant! Something that glues it's victims bodies to itself in some kind of fetish. But this behavior isn't a fetish, it's a form of camouflage, because there are lots of predators that want to eat the Junk Bug too!
I saw the little bug start picking up the pieces of its victims. But the bug has a keen sense of movement, it stopped spinning as soon as I got the camera close. I took this video trying to catch the larva collecting the dead bodies of it's victims and gluing them back on it's body with silk it spins from it's butt! However I didn't have the patients to sit still for more than 10 minutes, I let the poor thing go, "outside."
what the crap is that thing?!
also you have alotta value to your account. how did oyu get it to be so grand!?
That is the baby form of a beautiful green bug called the lacewing. It's scary movie time monster bug lololol...
I guess I've gotten so grand by living 57 years of life without giving up ;-) thank you @nabes.
well you dont like a day over 55 :P
When one gets this old, that's a compliment :p
Aphid Lion - Only you can write such a beautiful story about bug @reddust
Bugs are beautiful!
Your story about bugs is very beautiful - bugs is ugly @reddust
Thank you my friend.
That's one smart bug, and what a fascinating article you have here. I love that you are the bug person of the neighborhood. Never heard of one of these. Seen many ant-lion cones in the ground, but not an aphid lion. Probably similar, as the ant lion isn't anything to write home about either, in the looks department.
Glad you got it all sorted out. The music on your video was classic too, a slow moving bug, to fast-paced and scary music.
We bug people need to stick together lololololol...... It is fun seeing something i've never seen before and I am glad you enjoyed my curious article @ddschtein.
I love them in the larval stage!
Great to get rid of black ants, especially in sandy soil under cedar trees!
You know that is a great point, these little bugs provide a great service!
i see dead peoples :)
For reals ....hahaha <3
This is fascinating, haha. My brothers would be all over this for studying. :)
I like your brothers <3
i like your curiousity about bug and thanks your daughter.
It doesn't seem possible! Ah!
Wow.. #reddustst beautiful ....story.
Only say, good story