Orphic Seth
New member
- Joined
- Sep 20, 2004
- Messages
- 74
- Reaction score
- 3
Rise and shine neighbors!
Waaaaaaaaay back in June, on one of my first Adirondack overnights, I was lounging around a high-altitude pond looking for wierdness, and boy, did I find some! In the water, climbing, wallowing, and moving around rocks and reeds were little 0.75" towering piles of hemlock needles, leaves, and sticks. This took me by surprise, and after a little poking and investigating I discovered that they were outer shells/homes for little bugs(?) walking around. I picked one up and the bug retracted into its house. Put it back, and it would come out and walk around. Very much like a hermit crab, except instead of a shell-shell, it was a leafy-shell. Some of them were pretty big and unbalanced looking, but they strode confidently around the sides of rocks and so on. Never seen these little dudes before, what are they?
Waaaaaaaaay back in June, on one of my first Adirondack overnights, I was lounging around a high-altitude pond looking for wierdness, and boy, did I find some! In the water, climbing, wallowing, and moving around rocks and reeds were little 0.75" towering piles of hemlock needles, leaves, and sticks. This took me by surprise, and after a little poking and investigating I discovered that they were outer shells/homes for little bugs(?) walking around. I picked one up and the bug retracted into its house. Put it back, and it would come out and walk around. Very much like a hermit crab, except instead of a shell-shell, it was a leafy-shell. Some of them were pretty big and unbalanced looking, but they strode confidently around the sides of rocks and so on. Never seen these little dudes before, what are they?