Virginia:

I found what looks like an antlion larva in a puffball (mushroom). Any idea what this might be? In a nearby puffball there were numerous spheroids each containing its own small white pupa a little over a mm in length. Any idea what these might be? I collected one of the puffballs and have it in a container and I took some pictures.

To be honest I don’t know much about insects that are associated with mushroom fruiting bodies. But I do know that there are beetles called ‘puffball beetles’. There is a picture here at BugGuide.net of the different life stages, does this match what you saw?

Unfortunately, I have not been successful in finding information about this species’ biology, but perhaps someone else who visits this site will be able to chime in.

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