The first record of disruptive colouration in holometabolan larvae from about 100 million-year-old Kachin amber is a lacewing larva with dark stripes on the legs

Animals have evolved various strategies to avoid being eaten (e.g., Howland, 1974; Peterson et al., 2021). Such strategies are especially important in groups of animals that represent a large biomass and are therefore attractive aims for predators (Lindstedt et al., 2019). Holometabola, the group including beetles, bees, butterflies, and all their closer relatives, represents a vast biomass in continental ecosystems; more precisely their larval forms represent this vast biomass (Husler & Husler, 1940). These larvae are important food sources for many other groups of animals and are hence central points within the food web.