Sitting on the deck above Bull Creek while staring into space I saw a tiny white thing slowly "flying" past. I grabbed it by the tail and studied it for several minutes before I determined that it was lifeless and had been drifting in the still air. Holding the tail with forceps, it seemed to sway in spite of the absence of wind like a little ghost.
I took a lot of pictures and sent them to my insect guru, Chris Barnhart. He identified it as a stonefly exuvium. An exuvium is the cast off outer covering (exoskeleton) of an animal after moulting (think of a snake skin). The body and the tail each measured 7 mm long.
Stoneflies are in the order Plecoptera. They live underwater as larvae for up to two years before crawling out of water and moulting into the winged adult. As with many winged adult species of insects, this is the beginning of the end as they mate, lay eggs and die in a final burst of glory after fulfilling their biological imperative.
So how did this cast off skin manage to drift by me as I sat 15 feet above the bank where it would have emerged? Although there was no discernible breeze, there must have been just enough air moving to carry it up and drift in by my face.
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| Stonefly nymph - Wikimedia |
Here you can see an example of a stonefly nymph. In its final stage it will develop the wings which will expand after its final molt just like a butterfly does. You can see the brown skin on the exuvia that covered the nascent wings which wait patiently to expand as they come into the air.
After having achieved this moment of fame, I released it out on the deck and it drifted away, a silent traveler on a windless morning. It like all life will be recycled, returning to the soil to feed the cycle of life like all species do eventually.
You can learn more about our Missouri stoneflies by Googling "stonefly MDC" - a trick that works for most of our plant and animal species. (Or simply click on this link.)
