Can
you identify what's in this photo?
Each Wednesday morning
on Camp Lutherlyn's Facebook page
the Lutherlyn Environmental
Education Program posts a photo.
Readers
have all morning and afternoon
to
make their best guess about what the photo is.
Around
6 pm LEEP provides the answer and a brief explanation.
Each
week's What is it Wednesday post
will
also be posted on the Nature of Lutherlyn blog,
after it is posted on Facebook,
sometimes
with additional bonus information.
In
addition to bringing you current editions of What is it Wednesday
on the
Nature of Lutherlyn blog,
we
will be reposting old editions,
creating
a What is it Wednesday archive.
This
photo was posted as a What is it Wednesday on
June 17, 2020.
And
the answer is....
This is the larva of a ladybug.
Like ladybug adults, the
larvae live on leaves and eat smaller insects like aphids. After living and
growing for 20-30 days and molting about 4 times as it gets larger, the larva
attaches to the underside of a leaf and transforms into a pupa. The pupa looks
a bit like a soft-bodied cross between the adult and larva stages. Inside the
outer skin of the pupa, the ladybug is undergoing a major transformation, and
after a few days to two weeks, the adult ladybug emerges.
Because ladybugs are such voracious eaters of pests like
aphids and mites they are a great friend to have in the garden! If you see a
ladybug, at any stage of its lifecycle, let it live, so it can continue to keep
those pest populations under control.
Like and follow Camp Lutherlyn on
Facebook, to see What is it Wednesday posts when
they come out and have the opportunity to share your guesses in the comments!
