. British journal of entomology and natural history. Natural history; Entomology. BR. J. ENT. NAT. MIST., 7: 1994 DO TORTOISE BEETLE PUPAE MIMIC LACEWING87 Richard A. Jones 13 Bel/wood Road, Nunhead, London SE15 3DE. At first, this question may seem rather strange; how could the stout, wingless, wholly functional carapace of any coleopterous pupa resemble, in the slightest, the delicate winged and lithe form of the Neuroptera? The answer, as I hope the accompanying photographs show, is 'yes, when seen in profile'. I would argue that this is not just coincidental, not an accident of light, and
. British journal of entomology and natural history. Natural history; Entomology. BR. J. ENT. NAT. MIST., 7: 1994 DO TORTOISE BEETLE PUPAE MIMIC LACEWING87 Richard A. Jones 13 Bel/wood Road, Nunhead, London SE15 3DE. At first, this question may seem rather strange; how could the stout, wingless, wholly functional carapace of any coleopterous pupa resemble, in the slightest, the delicate winged and lithe form of the Neuroptera? The answer, as I hope the accompanying photographs show, is 'yes, when seen in profile'. I would argue that this is not just coincidental, not an accident of light, and not a trick played by a notorious trickster—the camera. However, it was the sight through the camera viewfinder that revealed this resemblance, a sight not usually seen by the field entomologist because the combination of focal length of the macro-lens and extension tubes produces an image on an insect-to-insect scale. Even armed with a hand lens, the perspective and depth of field of this image is not usually available to the human eye. During its five larval instars, the tortoise beetle larva, in this case Cassida viridis L., carries about its previous larval skins, ornamented with its own droppings, in the form of a 'parasol' which it waves over its back to deter any would-be predator, or which camouflages the larva by resembling a bird dropping or other rubbish. The particular structure which allows the larva to do this is a long bifurcate prong called the caudal furca, caudal process, anal fork, or even 'feces fork' (Gressitt, 1952). By the time it pupates, the accumulated exuviae and frass may. Fig. 1. The fifth instar larva of Cassida viridis waves its 'parasol* of accumulated shed skins and frass over its back while continuing to eat the mint leaf. Photo: R. A. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble t
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, booksubjectentomology, booksubjectnaturalhistor
