Macro picture of Goat Moth Larva (Cossus Cossus)

Taken with Olympus E500 digital camera April 17th 2009. Click image for larger view.
Here is a close up picture of a Goat Moth Larva (Cossus Cossus) that we found last spring. This larva is found in most of Norway, but not further north than Nordland county. The larva often lives in old trees with leaves where it can live from two to five years before it crawls out. The goat moth larva can grow up to 10 cm long and the specimen in the picture is the largest larva I have ever seen. If you look closer at the picture you can see that the larva has some pretty big jaws. I did not dare hold it because it was pretty aggressive and bit straws that we put in front of it.

Spring is soon coming so hopefully there will be many opportunities to take pictures of cool insects and other buggers.
Check out my other photos of insects here.

Information about the picture:
Camera: Olympus E-500 digital SLR camera
Exposure: 0.006 sec (1/160)
Aperture: f/11.0
Focal Length: 35 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Lens: Olympus Zuiko Digital 35mm F3.5 Macro
Location: Fjellstrand in Nesodden, Akershus in southeast of Norway