Tonight’s challenge is an obscure bit of entomological anatomy.
For 5 Myrmecos points, be the first person to correctly identify the family of insect this strange device belongs to. For five more points, be the first to name the structure.
The cumulative points winner for the month of July will win their choice of 1) any 8×10-sized print from my photo galleries, or 2) a guest post here on Myrmecos.
Good luck!
Well I’d say that it’s a picture of a raptorial leg, which is composed of the distal tarsomeres. For family, I’ll guess Mantispidae because they’re cool, raptorial, and a common species (Climaciella brunnea) is brown!
Fore tarsus and tibia of a female specimen of Dryinidae, cf. Gonatopus sp.
Used for catching hopper hosts.
That was my guess…. :/
Dang….I go with Dryinidae as well, front leg. Cool shot.
I guess I could be more specific and say it’s the right front leg foretarsus?
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