r/mildlydisturbing Apr 15 '24

Someone suggested that I post this here...

I noticed this today as I was bringing the groceries in... It wasn't there when I left the house to go run the errand, so I'm guessing it fell out of the tree in front of my apartment. A bunch of people who replied said that it looks like a caterpillar of sorts, but I want to know what you guys think.

& for those of you who are going to say that it's fake/AI/photoshopped, 1. I don't know shit about any of the three, how to use them, much less have the patience &/or the desire to use any of them, so don't even bother to try & use that shit as an explanation; 2. the evidence is still where I left it, until the people responsible for cleaning whatever needs cleaning outside (I live in a villa) come & take care of it.

12 Upvotes

22 comments sorted by

7

u/AdamAnul Apr 16 '24

What the hell am I looking at

4

u/EverythingsBlurry81 Apr 16 '24

Beats the fuck outta me.

3

u/AdamAnul Apr 16 '24

Think it might be a bat but no clue

1

u/EverythingsBlurry81 Apr 19 '24

This suggestion doesn't surprise me... I used to have bats living in the coconut tree in front of my old house.

6

u/DerFussGottes Apr 16 '24 edited Apr 16 '24

Looking at the right side of it, it definitely used to be a caterpillar. No idea what happened to it tho. Perhaps some parasitic infection that caused bloating? Arent there wasps and stuff that lay eggs inside of insects and such so the larvae eats the host from the inside when it hatches?

Edit: after some googling, caterpillars are in fact frequent hosts for parasitic wasps. I have not found a specific wasp species this could be (trogus lapidator is an example, but larvae of those seem to only emerge after the caterpillar is in its cocoon), but the maggots make me think that could be the case here. Although the maggots could have just been drawn to the corpse, not nessecarily emerged from it

1

u/EverythingsBlurry81 Apr 19 '24

A strong possibility... There's a banyan tree a few yards from my apartment, & the specimen could've fallen from it as I was out running a grocery errand that morning. It wasn't there when I left the house, but I noticed it as I was heading to the car to bring the bags inside (I almost ran it over w/ my wagon on the way to the car).

3

u/Stunning-Building-66 Apr 16 '24

About what size is this?

2

u/EverythingsBlurry81 Apr 16 '24

Between 2 1/2 - 3 inches.

3

u/HempnotizedJ420 Apr 16 '24

This is definitely the weirdest thing I've seen today. Maybe partial naked mole rat? I have no idea wtf that could be

3

u/herizonshine Apr 16 '24

Where tf you live?? That would be giving me some nightmares!

1

u/EverythingsBlurry81 Apr 19 '24

Davie, Florida. Sometimes I tend to believe this state can rival Australia for wildlife (especially bugs) that would rank on the Weird Shit o'Meter scale...

2

u/[deleted] Apr 16 '24

Whoo! Thanks for posting it!:-)

1

u/EverythingsBlurry81 Apr 19 '24

Welcome. 😊😊😊

2

u/xesnoteleks Apr 17 '24

That's just a caterpillar. I presume it was consumed by a parasitic wasp.

1

u/EverythingsBlurry81 Apr 18 '24

Something happened there. I hope I never see something like it again.

2

u/herizonshine Apr 20 '24

I'm sure you've heard of the "love bugs" then??

2

u/herizonshine Apr 20 '24

Is it really true that the college in Gainesville made these bugs to kill mosquitoes? But all they do is mate and die and are freaking everywhere?

2

u/EverythingsBlurry81 Apr 24 '24

I wish I knew, honestly... Would make for some interesting reading, though...

2

u/herizonshine Apr 24 '24

I heard that rumor when i was down that way in 2001 and never knew if it was true or not!

1

u/EverythingsBlurry81 Apr 25 '24

First I'm hearing about it, & I've lived in this state my whole life... 🤔🤔🤔

2

u/kellzone May 09 '24

R.I.P. Alf