Cassida rubiginosa, larvae, talbot, md, back

Hold Poo Over its Body - Yep, this is Cassida rubiginosa the Thistle Tortoise Beetle brought over here to fight the Canada Thistle, which is not actually from Canada, but just another example of how we try to bring Canada down by associating it with Alien Pests. This species holds a little pile of animal poo over its body as a clever disguise (would you eat poo?) using its long prongs on its tail end (poo removed in this picture). Thanks to Ashley Bradford for pointing all this out and finding this critter at the Pickering Creek BioBlitz this weekend. Photography Information: Canon Mark II 5D, Zerene Stacker, Stackshot Sled, 65mm Canon MP-E 1-5X macro lens, Twin Macro Flash in Styrofoam Cooler, F5.0, ISO 100, Shutter Speed 200. USGSBIML Photoshopping Technique: Note that we now have added using the burn tool at 50% opacity set to shadows to clean up the halos that bleed into the black background from "hot" color sections of the picture.