Can somebody tell me what the heck is this thing?

crpy

crpy

Arachnoking
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Apr 19, 2008
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It appears to be a beetle puparium being devoured by ants or

A russian female weight lifter depending on which id
 
8

8Pat

Arachnosquire
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Hi! Looks to me as some kind of -squashed- butterfly chrysalis.
8Pat
 
B

Bulldozer

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crpy said:
It appears to be a beetle puparium being devoured by ants or

A russian female weight lifter depending on which id
Click to expand...
I was curious about the species of insect that produces this kind of huge, hairy, disgusting cocoon and a horrid larva.

PS:
It's a Bulgarian newspaper, not Russian. The lifter chick is BG too.
 
scottyk

scottyk

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Did he dig it up? It almost reminds me of some sort of Cicada, but as far as I'm aware, they all pupate underground...
 
B

Bulldozer

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scottyk said:
Did he dig it up? It almost reminds me of some sort of Cicada, but as far as I'm aware, they all pupate underground...
Click to expand...
He works as a professional soldier and every time he goes to work, he carries a blanket with him. While on duty, he prefers to sleep instead of watch for the enemy. This is a common practise in the Bulgarian army.
They go in the fields, put the blanket on the ground and spend the duty time sleeping untill it is time to go home.
So, one day he found this disgusting hairy cocoon with this ugly Thing inside of it attached to his blanked.
Yes, it was on the ground.
Could it be a Cicada?
 
scottyk

scottyk

Arachnoangel
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Just a guess as the thing looks similar to discarded Cicada pupae that I've seen. However, if the photo is being interpreted correctly, the head and neck don't look right....
 
lhystrix

lhystrix

Arachnobaron
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Sep 22, 2007
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What I see is a cut open, squashed moth pupa. The fuzzy thing was it's cocoon.
Not familiar with Bulgarian fauna, but in NA, that fuzzy cocoon and fat, bulky pupa are typical of Arctiidae, the tiger moths. In the US some people call caterpillars of some species woolly bears.

It was a moth pupa, nonetheless. The 'mouth, neck, and eye' is just a mangled portion of the pupal casing.
 
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