insect egg case, tropical
Location: dominical, Costa Rica
February 17, 2012 3:57 pm
Dear Bugman,
My wife found this interesting object attached to a hammock outside a house at which we were staying in Costa Rica, Feb 11, 2012. The house is near Dominical, just a few Km up in the mountains.
I’m guessing it is some kind of insect egg case, but I have never seen something quite like this with the little spikes all over. The color was probably a bit whiter than the attached images as the sun was setting at the time. It was about 5 cm long.
Signature: Sincerely, Hudson Ansley
Costa Rican Thing
Dear Hudson,
We have no idea what this thing is. It might be an insect case, or it might be a fungus, or possibly part of a plant. We are posting your unidentified mystery in the hope that someone might be able to provide an identification in the future.
Update: Possibly Ootheca of Lanternfly
March 3, 3012
We received a comment suggesting this might be the egg case of a Lanternfly or Peanut Headed Bug, Fulgora lanternaria. We did find one photo online on Bug Hatch Stock Photography, but we cannot link to the image directly.
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I’m no expert, but this really looks like the egg case of a Fulgora genus lantern bug to me.
Thanks for your suggestion. We will research that possibility more.
We found the same egg case while in Costa Rica last week. We set it on a ledge and the next morning a lot of little babies were all over. Definitely a Peanut/Lantern bug. Will post photo too.
Thanks, we were really excited to post your photo.