Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada
Clickable Guide
Moths Butterflies Flies Caterpillars Flies Dragonflies Flies Mantids Cockroaches Bees and Wasps Walkingsticks Earwigs Ants Termites Hoppers and Kin Hoppers and Kin Beetles True Bugs Fleas Grasshoppers and Kin Ticks Spiders Scorpions Centipedes Millipedes

Calendar

TaxonomyBrowseInfoImagesLinksBooksData
Photo#333771
Egg sac?

Egg sac?
Calipatria, Imperial County, California, USA
March 30, 2009
Size: approx. 2 mm
This is a tiny, soft bodied critter. It looks like it has appendages, but they are not segmented like an insect's would be. The appendages are more like tentacles. Also there are two black spots that are slightly harder that the rest of the body. I cut the body open to look inside and found that it is full of many tightly packed pieces that look like eggs. It could be an egg sac of some sort, but I have never seen an egg sac with tentacles. Please let me know what you think it might be!! I am at a complete loss.

Looks like a Simuliidae pupa
Looks like a Simuliidae pupa to me

Moved

Moved
Moved from ID Request.

Putting this on the "puzzle page" for future scrutiny by someone looking for a challenge :-)

 
Good Idea!
Oh that is great! Thanks!

Hey thanks for taking a look
Hey thanks for taking a look at this!

I found it in a Salton Sea benthic grab (which usually gets the top layer of sediment and some of what is in the water column. The salinity in the area was 7.58 ppt. Other things found in the grab were Ostracods, Daphnia, Corixid juveniles and adults (water bugs) and Chironomids (midge larva).

The picture was taken with a regular camera (its all I have!) on the macro setting. It is in a petri dish with 70% EtOH... so it is not floating... but the dish is sitting on a counter. The shadow is from the slight gap between the bottom of the dish and the counter cause by the rim of the dish.

The pink color is from Rose Bengal dye.

I'll look into black fly larvae as a possibility.

 
Just kidding

 
Haha. The smallest squid in t
Haha. The smallest squid in the world! Actually I asked an expert on Allexperts.com and he suggested a tiny squid... but considering the location it is from and the size of the thing its not probably a squid even though the picture does sort of resemble one.

Also, the more I look at it the more I think the skin and insides look insect-like. The back half of it looks a lot like Chironomidae pupae, but the "head" is so much different.

cropped; is that water?
I cropped this and corrected the color a bit. Is it on a piece of glass or floating on water? There's space between it and its shadow.

 
if it's water...
The only thing this really reminds me of is a black fly pupa, so that would make sense...

Context?
Can you give some details about where you found this?

Comment viewing options
Select your preferred way to display the comments and click 'Save settings' to activate your changes.