Amazing jaws of Rove Beetle larva.

[Bruce Williams]

Northants garden. 7th March 2009.

I was absolutely amazed when I saw the horrendous jaws on this little predator. The gape is extraordinary and made me wonder if this (the gape) was more for the purposes of threat posturing than killing and devouring prey.







Bruce

[Gerel]

More great shots Bruce.

Looks like a similar larva to this one



but I had no idea the jaws opened so wide thank the gods they don't grow any bigger.

Steve

[squishy]

wow! fantastic bruce

[Jim Ford]

You ought to read H. G. Wells' short story 'Food of The Gods'.

Jim

[Paul mabbott]

Originally Posted by Bruce Williams

Northants garden. 7th March 2009.

I was absolutely amazed when I saw the horrendous jaws on this little predator. The gape is extraordinary and made me wonder if this (the gape) was more for the purposes of threat posturing than killing and devouring prey.
Bruce

Nice pictures, Bruce. I don't think that predatory staphs (ground beetles are similar) go in for posturing - by and large they're not visual hunters or particularly acutely sighted at all. Two reasons for these relatively large mandibles: predatory beetles often take prey much larger than themselves or at least broader in the beam - the most obvious example is when violet ground beetles slice large earthworms through with a single bite! The basic strategy is that the beetle goes up to the prey and chops through it, no messing about, and worries about eating it later! The other thing is that in the case of larvae the soft body parts can expand to an extent while the harder pieces don't except at metamorphosis: making the head parts appear relatively over-large?

[Dogghound]

The two large anal appendages show its a member of the Paederinae sub family. Nice photo's. It looks like an early instar.

[Bruce Williams]

Steve - Nice pic....and yes I would think a related species or possibly a different instar of the same species .

Thanks Adam your comments always appreciated.

Jim - I've located an electronic copy and will check it out (always enjoy HGW) although at the moment I've no idea what the connection is to this fearsome looking larva.

Paul - Thanks for the great information - very interesting!

Thanks Dan - You know I did wonder if it might be an early instar as a couple of days ago I photographed a very similar rove beetle larva that had noticeably shorter anal appendages. See this pic I posted (of it) on another forum: www.photomacrography.net :: View topic - Predatory Larva . Of course you may well have had a totally different reason for suggesting it might an early instar.

Bruce