The Real Bone Collector
While walking around my yard taking pictures of insects several days ago, I noticed a spot on the cover of one of our yard chairs. I didn’t think much of it and continued to photograph other things. Some time later I looked at the chair again but for some reason the “spot” seemed to be in a different place. I shook it off as a misperception and continued to find other things to photograph. When I came back to the same chair and noticed the spot was in a different place, I began to think this was more than meets the eye. I watched the spot for a minute and noticed that it was slowly moving. This was no spot, but instead was a fascinating bug that I have long hoped to get a picture of. Therefore I proudly introduce the debris-carrying larva of a lacewing.
However, as will soon be evident, this highly beneficial bug has a rather macabre habit.