diptera larva

Moved

Moved from Soldier flies.

… Keith Bayless, 20 February, 2007 - 12:05am

Stratiomyidae: subfamily Pachygastrinae

Stratiomyidae: subfamily Pachygastrinae. These larvae can be very common under bark

… Norm Woodley, 8 January, 2007 - 2:37pm

Thanks everyone

Now I know it's a fly larva. Next time I'll try to collect one and see which fly it turns into.

… tom murray, 27 March, 2006 - 6:14pm

I found some too.

Most were dead, empty husks, but one was alive. Emphasis on was. It was also very fragile and turned into a juicy smear when I tried to brush it into a container to photograph. Glad to see you weren't so rough with yours ;-)

… Jim McClarin, 26 March, 2006 - 8:57pm

Photographed where I found it

Found under bark, and I didn't try to move it. Whatever it is, it has at least 5 pairs of legs.

… tom murray, 26 March, 2006 - 9:25pm

My guess:

A centipede. If those really are legs and not some kind of bristle, the only nearctic land arthropods with that many legs would be isopods or myriapods. If it's a myriapod, one-leg-per-segment says it's a centipede

… Chuck Entz, 26 March, 2006 - 10:33pm

I don't know

There are some similar Myriapods in the class Pauropoda. BUT these all seem to have visible antennae. I'm leaning more toward some sort of larva?

… Lynette Elliott, 27 March, 2006 - 5:23am

You're right

I forgot about the Symphylans and Pauropods. Looking closer, I see some things sticking out of the front(?) end that could be antennae. I can't tell if they're branched or not. It does look like some of the drawings for Pauropus spp.

… Chuck Entz, 27 March, 2006 - 7:06am

This may sound

impossible, but this creature could be larva of a fly in the subfamily Fanniinae of the family Muscidae, the housefly. Or a fly in the family Stratiomyidae, the soldierfly - Chen

… Chen Young, 27 March, 2006 - 9:01am

Not impossible

if you interpret the "legs" as bristles. They seem awful thin and unarticulated for arthropod legs, but I noticed similar legs in some of the drawings for myriapods, so was willing to entertain the possibility.

The hairs on the back did strike me as rather fly-like, too.

… Chuck Entz, 27 March, 2006 - 4:29pm

Amazing

and here is a link showing an example online.

… Lynette Elliott, 27 March, 2006 - 10:14am

It's a...

Stratiomyid. They distinguish themselves by having deposits of calcium carbonate on their body to make them rough and harder to eat/be parasitized. This fits the body plan of a stratiomyid and seems to have calcium deposits on its cuticle. It also fits the habitat in which they would be found.
-Phil Torres

… Phillip Juan Torres, 28 March, 2006 - 11:35am

soldier fly larvae

darn you Phil you learned that in class today

… Keith Bayless, 28 March, 2006 - 7:40pm

Stratiomyid larv

Thanks Phil and Keith for identifying this wierd looking larva as a Soldier Fly.

… tom murray, 29 March, 2006 - 6:38pm