Hubby says it is "obviously" the remains of a bug - one of those hairy caterpillars - and it does look like that, from this angle especially.
I tried looking up various combinations of the words dried hairy/spiky alien caterpillar exoskeleton on Google Images but didn't find anything that matched it.
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Update:
I did think it was a plant pod of some sort at first. But it was the only one around. It was fairly glued to the tree.
Also, I just remembered a dream I had last night.
In the dream, I discovered that we had a basement that I hadn't previously realized was there. There was even a retractable clothesline that I thought would be perfect for drying quilts. I was ecstatic! I could finally wash the quilts!
(Yes I have a yard as big as all outdoors but I also have a dog who'd make mincemeat out of an heirloom quilt in very short order.)
(Yes I have the most boring dreams known to man.)
WOWOWOWWO! That is one bizarre sloughed off exoskeleton. Wonder if thingfish or Bev knows what that is?
ReplyDeleteSpectacular ornamentation.
That is a strange thing - makes you wonder what came out of it - alian catterpiller? LOL.
ReplyDeleteI have just been enjoying your pictures so much. Used to be a country now living in the city so country blogs take me back to good memories. I remember buying dirt and making anything into compost - In Florida we have mostly sand and you have to keep adding to the soil.
Uuh Karen! If you look similar to Sigourney Weaver... RUN!!!
ReplyDeleteThat is scary. I'm glad I've never seen anything like that around here. Was it attached to the tree? How big was it? At first it looked like the remnants of a Teasel pod that something had mistakenly tried to eat. Wonder what came out of that. If you don't figure it out, send that picture to your local ag. extension office. They'll know what it is.
ReplyDeleteI don't know what it is, either, but I think we can all be thankful that it is dead.
ReplyDeleteI'm with sabine on this one - Run like Hell!
ReplyDeleteIgnatz
p.s. if you find out what it is, please let us know
I swear you find the weirdest stuff on your land. Allen and I were ecstatic because we found some trillium on ours. Woo-hoo!
ReplyDeletei took a walk from "here" to "there" to "there" to "there" last night and then i found your blog. i love this picuture and the whole investigative process of trying to find out what "things" are. my husband recently bought me a bug book for this exact reason. "rescue and release" - trap under glass, figure out what the hell it is and then send it out of the house. this thing is bizarre. and it makes me think of Alien, too. cheers!
ReplyDeleteWill Smith and Tommy Lee Jones are on the way.
ReplyDeleteKitty spit up?
ReplyDeletePartiall digested sand burr?
Neo Con - always thought they were aliens!
Didn't know such a thing existed ... fungi can be interesting shapes ... maybe it's a fungi - or not. (A guy who's not much fun?)
ReplyDeleteLove your blogs!
Ha, thanks everybody. Love all the suggestions! I wiwll be curious to see if it's still there next time I walk over that way. It's in the fossil-hunting area so I've walked by there a jillion times lately... how could I have missed it?!
ReplyDeleteIt's not that big - maybe a couple inches long (5 cm).
Oh and Annie, I need to schedule an appointment with your trilliums please. :)
OK got to run get started back on taxes. Ugh.
Oh my gosh! Keep us updated if you find out what that thing is! I wanna know. I've never ever seen anything like it. What you *could* do (if you are really curious) is take it to your Alabama Cooperative Extension Service office. They might know.
ReplyDeleteMay be a remainder of a porcupine?
ReplyDeleteMan, that is truly bizarre! I hope you find out what it is so that you can tell the rest of us.
ReplyDeleteI believe it is a miature version of the spaceships from "Buckaroo Banzai".
ReplyDeleteOtherwise, ya got me...
I'll put my researching hat on, though.
That is likely the strangest creature ever... if it was a creature... it's some kind of creation, definitely. Spooky!
ReplyDelete