Insect Larvae Makes Scientific Breakthrough — Human Scientists Impressed and Humbled
Dan Dourson, a biologist formerly with the Forest Service, is in the bug discovering business. He was scouting a tree in the Smokies when he happened upon a common green lacewing larva. But then he noticed the lacewing had discovered something quite rare indeed.
The lacewing larva [Chrysopidae, possibly Leucochrya insularis] is nicknamed “junkyard bug” because it goes around with all sorts of things stuck on its back.
Junkyard Bug Tricked Out in Full Regalia
This particular larva, as part of its gaudy, but gorgeous wardrobe, was sporting six different kinds of snails. One of the snails was still alive and (in my opinion) using the larva as a kind of RV through the park. Another of the snails was a species never seen before in North Carolina [Punctum vitreum].
Basically the lacewing larva was adorned with a kind of snail camo. It needs to don various odds and ends to disguise itself so it can sneak up on prey. The need for especially good camouflage seems like sheer bravado on the part of a snail. I mean, how likely is it that being stalked by a snail would provoke a significant amount of anxiety in any creature? But maybe the camo is needed due to the likelihood that during a snail’s fairly prolonged sneaking process it will be snagged for some other critter’s lunch before it can get its own.
Snail-ouflage Versus Ghilliflage
The junkyard bug’s disguise looks a lot like a kind of hunting camo called a ghillie suit. The word ghillie comes from Scots Gaelic. A Ghillie dhu is the Gaelic name for a solitary and cranky elf whose clothes are woven of moss and leaves.
Wikipedia says that the ghillie suit is a Scottish invention for when you absolutely must have the best possible camo, like if you’re a sniper for the military.
It’s basically a portable one-man hunting blind. The U.S. military uses unscented dental floss to sew a confabulation of netting and ragged burlap together and then puts “Shoe Goo” on the knots for durability.
According to the online dictionary, “A ghillie suit is usually prepared by assembling it, beating it, dragging it behind a car, and then rolling it in cow manure or burying it in mud and then letting it ferment. This makes it very much like wearable humus.”
Lichen-ouflage, Bug-ouflage, What’s Your Pleasure?
Scientists knew that other species in this same group of larvae outfitted themselves with lichens, plant debris, and insect “remains.” But now the scientists are scurrying to find more lacewing larvae to see if the entire species prefers to wear snails, or if Dourson’s find was simply a creature with unusual taste in clothes.
For me, the real question is this: Why are scientists studying bugs who wear snails and not people who wear Shoo Gooed rags that have been fermented in cow manure?
Photo of the larvae the way it really looks