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Photo#34206
Trio of Wheel Bugs with Fungus? - Arilus cristatus - male - female

Trio of Wheel Bugs with Fungus? - Arilus cristatus - Male Female
Athens, Georgia, USA
October 8, 2005
Size: 2 cm
I'm aware that this is a trio of wheel bugs, Arilus cristatus, but the middle one has an extensive white downy growth that appears to be a fungus. I wonder if anyone has more info?

Mystery solved
I relocated the bugs, and they're all alive. The white strands are definitely spiderweb: sticky, long strands, apparently just clinging. Good call!

Spider escapee?
Wonder if the whitish one could be one that blundered into a spider's web? Spiders routinely cut out from their web creatures that have chemical defenses, which many True Bugs have. On the other hand, if that is spider silk there sure is a lot of it.

--Stephen

Stephen Cresswell
Buckhannon, WV
www.stephencresswell.com

freaks
A little confusion going on there... haha

Were these bugs moving when you took the picture cuz sometimes fungus kills insects and the bodies remain attached... never thought it could happen in this situation though.

what a great picture...
no idea what is going on however.