Larva of leaf beetle

Very nice spotting KitchilPus,congrats on the well deserved SOTW and thanks for sharing

Well deserved SOTW! Congrats.

Congrats on the SOTW.

Congratulations KitchilPus on SOTW for this awesome spotting!

Congratulations KitchilPus! Your leaf beetle larva with its defense shield has been voted Spotting of the Week! We love this spotting for its careful documentation and all the educational and appreciative comments from our community. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/projectnoah/photos/pb.10150120463815603.-2207520000.1508109902./10159496482250603/?type=3&theater Twitter: https://twitter.com/projectnoah/status/919704832692424704

Your spotting has been nominated for the Spotting of the Week. The winner will be chosen by the Project Noah Rangers based on a combination of factors including: uniqueness of the shot, status of the organism (for example, rare or endangered), quality of the information provided in the habitat and description sections. There is a subjective element, of course; the spotting with the highest number of Ranger votes is chosen. Congratulations on being nominated!

Happy to help :). I had an entomology professor in grad school who delighted in teaching us about exceptionally unusual insects, and feces-wearing larvae particularly stuck in my mind.

I was thinking that it was fecal matter but I did not know it was actually a defence mechanism. Wow! Thanks for sharing this knowledge with us😊

Learnt about fecal-shields for the first time. Thank you, KitchilPus for sharing the spotting and Christine Y for the links. Mother Nature is awesome...PN is too :)

Not sure the species, but it does appear to be a beetle larva carrying a fecal defense shield, aka a scatopillar.

You're welcome KitchilPus. Here are some links with pictures of larvae similar to yours: http://springfieldmn.blogspot.com/2013/10/sumac-flea-beetle.html https://www.earthtouchnews.com/wtf/wtf/by-the-power-of-the-poop-shield-beetle-defences-of-the-faecal-kind/

Thanks for sharing this unique spotting!

If it is a beetle larva, the gray stuff could be frass, which they sometimes "wear" to deter predation. Although, I've never seen frass look quite this gross...

Cool spotting, looks like it might be a beetle larva.