Peltoschema suturalis babysitting

These are smaller in WA and the larvae look a little different.

comments (2)

Pudding4brains

Lion

Hi Martin, once again a big THANK YOU for all the excellent new images of the photogenic Peltoschema and Paropsis species and especially for this one that is also showing the larva - all to often forgotten when documenting species of insects! Cheers, Arp Posted 7 years ago, modified 7 years ago

Martin Lagerwey

Lion

Yes, I like to add larvae because it refers to the life-cycle which is essentially cryptic . Every instar is the same species that is usually represented only by the adult. This is limiting. This species has a larvae that is quite different from the larvae in the eastern part of its range. This leads to a possibility of the two populations being different species and that is a theory that I intend to test. There are differences in food-plant, some physical features and, of course geography, that also inform my suspicion of splitting this species. Posted 7 years ago