Does anyone know what this bug is? It looks like a little dust ball with feet and moves pretty fast, so it was hard to get a picture of it.
Not sure if its a good thing or bad. Very sci-fi looking, could not find it in my massive Garden Insects book, so I will try the DG group.
It was grazing on my hibiscus plant.
It might be a Debri Carrying Lacewing Larva:
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://bugguide.net/images/raw/9K4KAK5KOK5KWK6QPKLKEK2QRSXKHS2QB04QF0IKZSMKDKAQRSVQRS6QV0NQY0MKDK8KAK7KOKBQ.jpg&imgrefurl=http://bugguide.net/node/view/11659/bgpage&h=300&w=300&sz=16&hl=en&start=3&um=1&tbnid=J8REaWxHztjCMM:&tbnh=116&tbnw=116&prev=/images%3Fq%3Ddebri%2Bcarrying%2Blacewing%2Blarvae%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN
Flygirl,
Thank you so much, you are right! Thanks for the google link, I found another one that explains why they carry the stuff round - cute story. So they are pretty much a "good bug", I am glad I only took pictures.
http://www.bugoftheweek.umd.edu/archive/BugOfWeek_15.html
Very interesting!
Cheers
Gk
Strange looking things .. here is a close up of one .. reminds me of that creature in Aliens.
X
LOL....they're little braggarts, showing off all the carcasses of their prey. I wonder if potential mates find them nore irresistable, the more skeletons the better?
LOL! At this stage they're children. They won't be looking for mates until they reach maturity - and become adult brown lacewings - so I would doubt the skeletons are admired. Simply used as camouflage....
They are just fascinating! I was trying to describe it to my DH and I think he wondered what I had been drinking....
I am telling him this tiny ball of fluff was running all over my hibiscus leaves.
I guess only gardeners can appreciate these things.....
Glad someone knew what it was, I have a reference book - The Ultimate Guide to Backyard Bugs - Garden Insects of North America, but cannot find a picture of it (in the dustball stage) and they make no reference to the larvae stage.
