Larval Stage and Maggot Observations

This creature appears to be a maggot, the larval stage of a future fly. The maggot is cover in a translucent yet distorted outer casing or layer. Through this outer layer a segmented body is revealed. These segments can be seen in movement as they contract and expand to push the maggot along the surface. This may also be indicative of a possible burrowing behavior, perhaps to move soil or dirt out of the maggots path. The body is composed of two visible parts the latter half being a tail that is very resembling to that of a rat. About a millimeter or so of the thin, black tail is exposed from the casing and the tail itself can be followed all of the way up to about half of the maggots body. This indicates that the tail could be a possible breathing mechanism as it provides direct access right into the chest cavity of the maggot. The maggot contains some visible paired organs such as the two antennae that are visible atop the frontal portion of the head. There do not appear to be any set of eyes which could either suggest that they may develop later or that this maggot simply does not rely on eyesight. Legs can be seen pressed up against the sides of the casing appearing in pairs. At the front of the head an appendage can be seen occasionally protruding out which is most likely the mouth attempting to gather food. The maggot also displays an interesting defense mechanism. At any disturbance the maggot seems to freeze up and cease all movement. After the disturbance has passed for a few moments, it resumes to move around in search of either food or shelter. It is a symmetrical creature and the tail divides the entire length exactly in half. The entire maggot is about 2.5 cm long with the tail beginning at 1.25 cm. It is about 0.1 cm wide