Looking like a trilobite, or perhaps a mutant millipede, a heavily armored beetle larva crawls through the leaf litter in an Illinois forest.  This predaceous insect belongs to the family Lycidae Lampyridae, the net-winged beetles fireflies.
photo details: Canon MP-E 65mm 1-5x macro lens on a Canon EOS 50D
ISO 100, 1/250 sec, f13, flash diffused through tracing paper
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Quite like a lampyrid larvae in general appearance, eh?
Unless, of course, it actually *is* a lampyrid larva. I let it go before I had a chance to consult Stehr's key.
Nice photograph. Reminds me a little of a marine chiton.
I work on lampyrid larvae and it definitly looks like one (very much the same but not exactly like L. noctiluca...)
well...read first...you said it already very clearly
Well, I'm happy to take an expert's opinion on this. A lampyrid it is, then.