Friday Beetle Blogging: Net-winged beetle larva

Lycid5

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?

By James C. Trager (not verified) on 05 Jun 2009 #permalink

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.

Well, I'm happy to take an expert's opinion on this. A lampyrid it is, then.