Survive being frozen?

EulersK

Arachnonomicon
Staff member
Joined
Feb 22, 2013
Messages
3,292
Alright, a bit of backstory. With the summer came inverts, and I caught a few with the intent of playing with my microscope. I caught them with a net that was used for collecting about a week earlier out in the brush (more on that in a moment), and I then put them in a container that happened to be airtight. That container was then put into the freezer... and forgotten about. For about a month. Well I found it tonight and decided to take a picture after letting it thaw for a few hours. Upon opening it, I immediately noticed a very tiny creature crawling. It comfortably sits on the head of a sharpened toothpick, and looks just like those furry caterpillars. Again, the container is airtight and was left to thaw with the lid on. Here is the... thing. Whatever it is. The head (or at least the direction that it crawls) is on the upper right.

2017-05-20-23-10-29.jpg

Any idea what this could be? Could it have hitched a ride from the brush, onto the net, and then into the container? How could it have survived that long in the freezer?
 

BobBarley

Arachnoprince
Joined
Sep 16, 2015
Messages
1,486
Dermestid beetle larva? They seem to find a way into cricket/roach/feeder bins one way or another. Wouldn't be surprised if you could find them while collecting.
 

basin79

ArachnoGod
Active Member
Joined
Sep 14, 2013
Messages
5,893
Dermestid beetle larva? They seem to find a way into cricket/roach/feeder bins one way or another. Wouldn't be surprised if you could find them while collecting.
The hairs look way too long. Well compared to the ones I get.
 

Hisserdude

Arachnoking
Joined
Apr 18, 2015
Messages
2,453
It's 100% a dermestid beetle larva, just not the species most people find in their invertebrate collections, maybe try posting the photo on Bugguide, someone there may have a clue as to the species identity...
 

spotropaicsav

Arachnobaron
Joined
Apr 3, 2017
Messages
431
It's 100% a dermestid beetle larva, just not the species most people find in their invertebrate collections, maybe try posting the photo on Bugguide, someone there may have a clue as to the species identity...
Knowing this I guess I'm not so surprised it survived the freezer, the ones we have around here very hardy
 

Xafron

Arachnosquire
Joined
Apr 5, 2017
Messages
82
Pretty sure I had found these on one of my mounted insects years ago.
 
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