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Not sure what family - Pytho niger
Copyright © 2006 Jim McClarin

Not sure what family - Pytho niger
Nashua, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, USA
March 17, 2006
Size: about 18 mm
Well, it looks superficially like a pyro*chroid but its terminal segment is no longer than the next one forward and I have never seen this arrangement of caudal spines. The head looks a little more rounded than that of other larvae of this general appearance. Found under loose bark of felled pine tree that was probably 2-3 years dead.

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Not sure what family - Pytho niger Not sure what family - Pytho niger
Contributed by Jim McClarin on 17 March, 2006 - 8:15pm
Last updated 20 March, 2006 - 4:11pm

Pythidae!!!
When I first stumbled onto bugguide 11 months ago, I thought I would end the confusion at the time over various larvae wrongly assigned to Cucu*jidae. Instead, I have added to the number of look-alike flattened underbark larvae, any of which might be mistaken for another.

Dan Young, U. of Wisconsin, has helped me create this mess by willy-nilly identifying these various look-alike critters when I find them. The latest outrage is this larva that he pegs as family Pythidae, genus Pytho, species niger.

That makes four families of look-alikes, the three others being Cucu*jidae, Pyro*chroidae, and Bori*dae. Somebody stop me before I clarify again!!
… Jim McClarin, 20 March, 2006 - 4:10pm

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