Tuesday, April 7, 2020

Octagonal?

These are crazy times, and yesterday I was feeling a bit on edge. So James herded me into his car, and we headed to our rural land (where we were COMPLETELY alone in the clear open air). It's his favorite place to be. For an hour or more, we walked the trails he's made and listened to the birds. As always, I mostly scanned the ground on the look out for something new. But this time, my "something new" came from a different direction. As we walked beneath a live oak, I noticed a pointy thing dangling in the air from a silken strand. What the heck? I "caught" it and took some photos for James iNaturalist account. How odd! And what a perfectly shaped point! It reminded me of a lizard's tail. James took a video of the larvae when it poked its head out.

Earlier today, a kind iNaturalist user (who's not even from Texas) identified our insect as an octagonal casemaker moth (Homaledra octogonella). According to Bugguide.net, the larvae feed on lichens which grow on oaks. If we'd had a magnifying lens, we could have seen the case's eight sides. Amazing!
Can you see the larva's head in this photo?





1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the introduction to an interesting little creature! Never knew such a thing existed, but will be watching for it now.

Ragna

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