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Photo#42224
Beetle  larvae?

Beetle larvae?
Okeechobee County, Florida, USA
February 4, 2006
Size: 5 mm
Found under bark.

Images of this individual: tag all
Beetle  larvae? Beetle  larvae?

Now THAT...
...is something you don't see every day. Amazing!

Moved
Moved from Insects.

Another possibility
I sent this picture to John Lawrence. I just received the following from him: "Some time ago you sent me a photo of a Florida beetle larva with globular lobes all along the sides of the body. I did not know what to make of it at the time, but I just happened to look at a paper today by Catherine Ducket and Sonia Casari in Col. Bull. 56(2) (2002): 170-181. They described the larva of a galerucine (alticine) larva of Walterianella bucki from Brazil and it seems to be a dead ringer for this. Perhaps there is a related alticine (possibly related to Oedionychus) in Florida"

 
Mike
I added my only other image. Might help...

 
cool...
two things that remain unexplained are the subcortical situation and the asymmetry of the protrusions on the first two abdominal segments in the individual shown at the top

 
Guide placement
Seems like there's at least consensus that these are beetle larvae?

 
yeah...
)))

Moved
Moved from Soft-winged Flower Beetles.

Placed here for now.

From melyrid specialist Adriean Mayor: “I have been looking at those supposedly melyrid pics for years, and I don't think they are melyrids, but don't have any idea where they belong.”

Hmmm
Apparently, if these are the beetle larvae you think they might be, the adults have a similar defense system.

Looks like a chemical defense system.
If a chemical-filled bag pops, another begins growing in its place. Just an idea. I'll want to see what it is.

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