Larvae observations

Observations on the larvae.

Tan body color. Is capable of moving around through undulatory locomotion. It is able to contract its body in order to shorten, condense, and protect its body. When moving its body is roughly ¾ to ½ the length of the larvae’s tail. When condensed the body is roughly 1/3 to ¼ the length of the larvae’s tail. The larvae will one day metamorphosis into an insect with a different exterior morphology. It has a segmented body with 8 small bud like legs. Tail is thicker at the base than it is at the tip. Tail looks like it has a skin coat over it that is not present at the tip of the tail. The outer layer of skin is soft and elastic, allowing the organism to stretch and contract as it moves around. The outer layer of skin is also translucent and certain organs are visible. While terrestrial in nature due to the media it was found in the larvae has small dots that appear to be eyes and has a mouth both located in the cranial or rostral region. From the naked eye small brown incisors or claspers can be seen in the mouth region. This oral appendage can be used for feeding and for locomotion. The locomotion of the organism can be broken up into three steps. First, the organism stretches its head region out as far as it can, bringing it down towards the substrate and clasps onto it firmly. Second, the organism then pulls the lower half of its body towards its head region shortening its body. This sends a wave back to the base of the tail. Third, another undulatory wave from the caudal end of the organism propels forward toward the cranial region, and at the same time the claspers or incisors let go of the substrate allowing the head to extend forward. When prodding at the tail with a pencil the larvae first attempted to run away but when it found that it couldn’t get away it began rolling and thrashing wildly. When that didn’t work the larvae began to try biting and attacking the pencil. When the body is poked with a pencil it twitches violently almost jumping away from the pain. When tapping the surrounding area with the pencil the larvae stopped moving all together until the noise stopped. On the underside of the larvae a large white area can be seen in the center of the interior of the body this area could be some kind of digestive area of lymph. The body is covered in many tiny hairs. It is roughly 27mm long with its tail being 17mm long and its body being 5 to 10 mm long. Two dots in the front of the head appear to be eyes or some type of sensory organ. There is a greater distress reaction when poking the head/cranial region than there is poking the tail/caudal region. The interior of the body appears to have a few long rod shaped muscles of organs. While the body is soft and squishy it appears to be durable. Its legs are not strong enough for it to walk up completely vertical surfaces. It’s hard for the larvae to walk around on bumpy or rough surfaces so it spends a lot of time rolling around. When suspended in the air by the tip of the tail the organism showed a lack of flexibility and was unable to reach back and touch its tail. When blowing air on the organism it acted as if nothing was wrong and continued to move around normally. Where would this organism live? Possible underground, in the water or mud, maybe underground, or even up in the tree canopy. The larvae can create a good amount of force through contractions. Its best defense mechanism is to roll away. It is bilaterally symmetrical.