What is it?

Moved

Moved from Unidentified Immature Stages.

… John F. Carr, 10 May, 2013 - 8:23pm

Moved

Moved from Flies.

… Brad Barnd, 9 December, 2011 - 7:39pm

Moved

Moved from ID Request.

… John R. Maxwell, 15 November, 2011 - 4:05pm

Yes, this seems very close!

I don't know how closely these larvae are related, however they do seem to share many of the same features!

… Arthur Scott Macmillan, 16 November, 2011 - 11:23pm

Some kind of fly pupae

would be my guess

… Brad Barnd, 14 November, 2011 - 11:28pm

Agreed

Fly puparium. No head, no legs, can't be a beetle larva or beetle pupa.

… Michael C. Thomas, 15 November, 2011 - 3:55pm

Not an expert - Not an ID

Fanniidae?

… John R. Maxwell, 15 November, 2011 - 4:01pm

I have heard of flies emerging from this...

...type of toilet. It is in an RV. They have a hollow area where the water is transferred from the water line inlet to the sprayer. This is pretty well sealed, but apparently flies can find a way in sometimes.

… Arthur Scott Macmillan, 15 November, 2011 - 12:25am

My guess:

A dermestid beetle larvae. Usually they're much spikier, but I think the water is holding down the bristles so they're not obvious.

… Chuck Entz, 14 November, 2011 - 10:07pm

A good guess, Chuck.

The water may have obscured some detail. In general the bristles were mainly on the lateral edges and not very long, and appearing more soft than bristly. I think they (there was a large number of them) were either all dead or pupated when I saw them. There was no moving around of any kind.

Also, they were probably at least 10mm in size. I hate guessing but I thought it might be helpful to at least know that they were not as small as most of the carpet beetles I have seen.

And what of the strange structures in the close up of the tapering end which is the last frame of the series?

I do think you might be right, but I did not see any larva that had this shape. Probably it is one of the larger beetles in this family. Perhaps one that found itself in an environment that it could not survive in!

… Arthur Scott Macmillan, 14 November, 2011 - 10:51pm