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Lichen Camo

Published January 7, 2022 Uncategorized 3 Comments
A bit of lichen?
Yes, attached to the back of this green lacewing larva. You can tell because the lichen is 1) moving, and 2) much paler than the living lichen on the tree.
Top and underside view of this one, too. These are quite a challenge to photograph. Over the weekend, before the temperature plunged, I saw six of these, more than I had ever seen before. Leucochrysa genus, iNaturalist suggests.
My dearheart first pointed one of these nearly-hidden gems out to me.

3 Responses to “Lichen Camo”

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  1. 1 Charles McAlexander January 7, 2022 at 7:45 am

    New one on me. Never heard of this behavior in insects. Whodathunkit/

    Reply
  2. 2 ellenbrys January 7, 2022 at 8:14 am

    These remind me of spider crabs who decorate their shell with bits of seaweed to blend in.
    Happy New Year to you your lichen-loving partner!

    Reply
  3. 3 elwnyc January 8, 2022 at 11:52 pm

    I’ve been surprised to learn about this kind of “disguise” behavior. I’ve seen a number of pictures recently of bagworms on an insect-identification site.

    Reply

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This work by Matthew Wills is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
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