Steve: There are insects that pretend to be something else.

I walked out on my back porch during a construction project.

Steve: and there was a little piece of trash Crawling along the bannister Art: Oh!

It sounds like a green lacewing larva and actually these larvae will cover themselves in bits of lichen that are attached to their bodies with the aid of silk.

and it helps camouflage them as they move about and you'll find them crawling on walls or up a tree trunk or whatever And they're predators just like the adults They feed on aphids and scale insects and mealybugs.

They're part of the good guys I think most gardeners would be familiar with them as beneficial insects.

Insects protect themselves by camouflage Some will blend in with their background colors They engage in what we call Crypsis And they sort of disappear into the leaves or the sand or the bark or whatever they would normally be walking around on.

And then there are others that engage in what we call Mimesis And they actually resemble Steve, Oh Mimicking Art: They're mimicking, although mimicry is not the appropriate word.

But you got the idea.

They are copying What is considered to be a neutral object or an object that would be of little interest to a predator.

A walking stick.

Looks like a stick.

Which predators aren't going to be looking for sticks to eat.

You've got caterpillars and adult moths that will resemble bird fecies.

Steve: Right.

A predator is not going to be interested in something That looks like a bird dropping.

How many of you have experienced Seeing something on a rock or a log and all of a sudden you have that aha moment.

Where you realize something is there.

What in your mind triggered that realization that there is something there.

It's symmetry.

We're used to seeing irregular inanimate objects but But symmetry, not all that much But if it is a symmetrical outline Then usually that's a giveaway you're looking at some sort of an organism, not just a chunk of bark or a bit of moss or whatever.

Of course that wouldn't have helped you with a Lacewing larva But the fact that this pile of lichens is moving That's sort of a dead giveaway.

Steve: It was shocking!

later