What the holy mother of hell is this?

Update-- here's a newer pic:

I could get better pictures of it with my digital camera tommorrow, if necessary (these were from my flatbed scanner).

Darren Garrison expounded:

parasitic plant? Or an

necessary (these were from my

Very strange little things, aren't they??!?

parasitic plant? Or an

Appears to be vegetable (rather than animal) in nature. Beyond that, I have no clue.

Ann wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

pshaawww, don't let her fool you.

those are clearly the newly shed exoskeletons of the land dwelling octopus: octopus squirrelbraineatingerensis

here is some more info on land dwelling octopi

Spore fruiting-bodied of Gymnosporangium rust (a fungus), also called cedar apple gall rust. The rust needs two host to complete the lifecycle: Juniper and some Crabapple, Amelanchier, Hawthorne, etc.

Or a parasitic plant? Or an

necessary (these were from my

I thought it was a Cthulhu turd.

-paghat the ratgirl

Salty Thumb expounded:

parasitic plant? Or an

necessary (these were from my

I want one! I could really scare the hell out of my husband with that!!! ;-)

Callen in VA

thanks ann...............i cannot believe the things i learn in here!

Marketing Opportunity!

Look for them on EBAY.

(watch for nationwide Cedar Rust epidemic later this year)

Good thing he's sleeping.

Swyck

You should market those. The perfect solution to squirrels in the garden. You'd make $millions.

theoneflasehaddock

On Sun, 25 Apr 2004 19:35:22 -0400, Darren Garrison wrote: I posted your message to a professor friend, Here is his reply:

Good to hear from you. I hope you didn't touch this thing. If you did, you better check your crotch in the next few days. You may have something growing there! NO--- I'm just joking. The organism in the photograph is the cedar-apple rust. It's a fungal parasite of both apple trees and cedar trees. It is a very exotic looking beast when it grows on the cedar tree.

Here are a couple websites that show similar photos with an explanation of the life cycle.

parasitic plant? Or an