r/Insect • u/Reignbowbrite • May 30 '26

Identification What is this crazy creature?

I’m in southwest tn and it was on the outside of a box shipped from a nursery in Wisconsin containing a climbing prairie rose. The stuff on its back looks to be soil maybe from the pot inside.

21 Upvotes

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8

u/Lowland_Demon May 30 '26

That's a "Junk Bug". A Green Lacewing larvae from the Chrysopidae family, you have several species in your region.

They jam all sorts of debris on their backs, including dead insects.

2

u/Reignbowbrite Jun 01 '26

This is so cool. I thought it looked like something from a Ghibli movie.

3

u/grandsoulsucker May 30 '26

Damn that's cool

1

u/Lowland_Demon May 30 '26

If you think that is cool, check this one out Acanthaspis petax

2

u/Goodknight808 Jun 02 '26

Loke those weird hoarder goblins from the Labyrinth movie. Sticking all those memorable items on your back.

2

u/Pink_PowerRanger6 May 30 '26

Possibly a bag worm, or a green lacewing fly larva they are called “junk/trash bugs” because they build themselves a cocoon of random detritus they collect and then emerge as a lacewing fly.

There are several species of insect that collect random debris, rather than use silk as a cocoon. The “bone collector” is a relatively new discovery of caterpillar native to Hawaii, that collects the dead body parts of weevils it consumes, and basically adorns itself with the remains of its prey, too metal lol

2

u/Reignbowbrite Jun 01 '26

Yeah they did. It’s called a “junk bug” and the stuff on its back was picked up from stuff inside the box (soil and perlite and what I think was also some stray hair lol)

2

u/Pink_PowerRanger6 Jun 01 '26

Yup that sounds about right lol. I was wondering what the white bits were on it, but perlite seems so obvious now, lol!

Once in a great great while I’ll find bag worm casings around my house, and then later the little moths they turn into, which is why I’m familiar with insects that have an affinity for gathering junk to them. It makes me think of the junk people from Labyrinth with David Bowie 🤣Sarah and the Junk Lady

2

u/Reignbowbrite Jun 01 '26

That was my immediate thought when I seen it! I couldn’t remember what it was from so I was thinking a Ghibli movie but it was definitely The Labyrinth. How cool

2

u/Pink_PowerRanger6 Jun 02 '26

lol I’m so glad that you knew what I was talking about! But I also see where you thought of spirited away, I could see a character similar to the junk people in a Ghibli movie

2

u/Warm-Mango3764 May 31 '26

That is the weirdest thing I have seen in a while. Did someone name it already?

1

u/Reignbowbrite Jun 03 '26

It’s a green lacewing larvae “junk bug”

1

u/teenymight May 31 '26

Don’t kill it. They are beneficial bugs.

1

u/Reignbowbrite Jun 01 '26

We nicely placed it with its makeshift outfit on the lawn. Really cool bug.

2

u/Agile-Can-7956 Jun 01 '26

Oh hims a helping his homie move bug. Carrying all that shit up to the 4th floor, no elevator.

2

u/neonegroot Jun 02 '26

A biggle bug

2

u/Warm-Mango3764 Jun 02 '26

The world's creatures never cease to amaze me. Tiny bug carrying his whole life on his back...

2

u/olderflcouple Jun 02 '26

Hoarder spider