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Photo#1732314
Debris-carrying larva - Leucochrysa pavida

Debris-carrying larva - Leucochrysa pavida
Thompsontown, Juniata County, Pennsylvania, USA
September 26, 2019

Moved

 
Thanks!
What are the key characteristics for this one? Lichen? Head pattern? Range? Or maybe a combination of these?

 
The larvae of this species ar
The larvae of this species are fairly well-studied, especially compared to other debris-carrying species. They particularly use green lichens so are fairly distinctive (in fact, they're even particular about which species and parts of lichens they use for their debris packet). That being said, the facial markings are indeed useful in this genus as well. Tauber (2004) gives a good comparison within the genus, especially Figs. 11 (p. 1142) and 14 (p. 1145). A few considerations regarding Ceraeochrysa lineaticornis carrying lichens are included on p. 1157, which go back in part to those facial markings. Those of C. lineaticornis are included by Tauber et al. (2014) in Fig. 3B (p. 299), along with what seems to be more typical debris of trichomes.


• Wilson (1995): Lichen use by larval Leucochrysa pavida (Neuroptera:Chrysopidae), Master's thesis
• Tauber (2004): A Systematic Review of the Genus Leucochrysa (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae) in the United States
• Tauber et al. (2014): Debris-Carrying in Larval Chrysopidae: Unraveling its Evolutionary History

 
Good info
Thanks!

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