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Bug of the Week is written by "The Bug Guy," Michael J. Raupp, Professor of Entomology at the University of Maryland.

Debris carrying lacewing larvae, Chrysopidae

 

Look at the ferocious jaws of the lacewing larva protruding from its cloak of debris.

 

In the sixth century B.C., Æsop wrote a fable about a clever wolf and a vigilant shepherd. The wolf had no luck catching sheep under the watchful eye of the shepherd. However, the crafty wolf donned a sheepskin, snuck past the shepherd into the flock, and enjoyed a tasty mutton meal. Last summer, I was delighted to witness the entomological equivalent of the wolf in sheep's clothing, a debris-toting lacewing larva.