Can anyone identify this animal

[Joe Kirkbride]

Forwarded on behalf of 
Ray Gagne 
USDA Agricultural Research Service
Systematic Entomology Laboratory
Beltsville, MD 20705-2350 USA
E-mail: rgagne at sel.barc.usda.gov

I believe the larvae that look like slugs are mycetophilids, possibly
Phronia spp. See paper by C.M. Steenberg, 1943, Entomol. Medd. 23: 337
ff.

Sincerely,

RJGagné

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Taxacom Discussion List [mailto:TAXACOM at LISTSERV.NHM.KU.EDU]On
> Behalf Of Jan Bosselaers
> Sent: Sunday, October 23, 2005 5:52 PM
> To: TAXACOM at LISTSERV.NHM.KU.EDU
> Subject: [TAXACOM] Can anyone identify this animal
> 
> Dear all,
> 
> In fall, when looking for spiders or myxomycetes, I sometimes find
> strange blob-like animals underneath rotten branches and logs on the
> wood floor. They look like insect larvae (diptera?) with a 
> distinct head
> with two eyes, but they seem to have no legs. They crawl on a
> mollusc-like sole and they cover their backs with slimy mud. I posted
> some photographs on http://www.dochterland.org/unknownanimal.htm If
> anyone knows to which genus or family these animals belong, please let
> me know. It haunts me for some time now that I can not find 
> what they are.
> 
> Best regards,
> 
> Jan
> 
> 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
> Dr. Jan Bosselaers
> "Dochterland", R. novarumlaan 2
> B-2340 Beerse, Belgium               tel / fax 32-14-615896
> home: dochterland at pandora.be  /  hortipes at dochterland.org
> work: jbossela at janbe.jnj.com
> web: http://www.dochterland.org/ or 
> http://wyith.ch/home/dochterland.org/
> 
> "You know I used to lose my mind, but now I'm old, now I'm free...
> I see waves break in foams on my horizons, I'm shining..." 
> The Chemical Brothers
>