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Old July 27th, 2011, 10:05 PM
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Caterpillar pic for bendyfoot

Here ya go, bendyfoot--I have some others, but they're all pretty much the same. Dad-burn things wouldn't uncoil. I did see one unfurled and it was maybe an inch-and-a-quarter or an inch-and-a-half long... When they're curled like that the circle is about an inch in diameter. The eye interpreted the dark as black but the camera seems to have seen a very dark blue.

There are three of them hanging out on the same plant in the middle of what's basically a grassy field.

Notice the double dorsal stripe...and that smooth-domed, Einstein brow! Must be a real genius with that egg-head, eh?

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Old July 28th, 2011, 08:27 AM
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It's a sawfly! Not a real catterpillar at all, but a wasp larva! The shape of the head and the teeny eye are a pretty good indicator. You also said you found several? They tend to congregate in largeish numbers, sometimes putting on a pretty interesting "threat" display together if they're disturbed.

Knowing their host plant (what they were eating) would help narrow down the species a bit, but a quick search makes me wonder if it's the Elm Sawfly: http://bugguide.net/node/view/171762

Cool critter!
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Old July 28th, 2011, 09:17 AM
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I thought it was extremely cool, and kinda pretty... until I read Bendyfoots post saying it was a Larva
Now my skin is crawling!
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Old July 28th, 2011, 10:48 AM
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LOL, "caterpillar" is just a fancy word for "larva"...it's basically the same thing!
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Old July 28th, 2011, 01:31 PM
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Wow, that must be one honkin' big sawfly! We used to get larch sawflies on our cascading tamarack but they were teeny.

There were three larvae though I only could find one this morning when I went out to get pics of the plant they were on. It's not a flowering plant so it's not in my book and I have no idea what it is, but maybe you can ID it:

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It's pretty chewed up--lots of the leaves are missing. It looks like some sort of willow, maybe? But I don't know for sure...

So if these are elm sawflies, what do they rely on now that the elms are gone?

Thanks for the help, bendy!
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Last edited by hazelrunpack; July 28th, 2011 at 02:05 PM.
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Old July 28th, 2011, 01:55 PM
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From what I read, the elm sawfly is one of the biggest in North America! The larvae get up to 2" long so yep, it's a doozy! They have a lot of hosts other than elm ("hosts include elm (Ulmus), maple (Acer), birch (Betula), willow (Salix), and basswood (Tilia); adults girdle bark on twigs"). My first thought when I saw your plant was that it was a little willow sapling, is that possible? I'm terrible at trees, lol! Sounds like they're really generalist though so they could be eating almost anything... funny that you mentioned that they wouldn't uncurl: "While feeding, the larvae usually coil their posterior around a leaf or twig. At rest the larvae roll into a characteristic tight coil." Good observations!
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Old July 28th, 2011, 01:59 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bendyfoot View Post
LOL, "caterpillar" is just a fancy word for "larva"...it's basically the same thing!
There's just something about a cute, fuzzy caterpillar that makes it being a larva less icky lol. I thought this one was cool because it was "bald" and still colorful. But as soon as I saw the word larva, I just pictured maggots and my skin started to crawl!
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R.I.P. my sweet, handsome Thorin. You are missed dearly Dec. 25, 1999 - Mar. 4, 2012
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Old July 28th, 2011, 02:02 PM
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LOL, yeah, maggots are larvae too
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Owned by:
Solomon - black DSH - king of kitchen raids (11)
Gracie - Mutterooski X - scary smart (9)
Jaida - GSD - tripod trainwreck and gentle soul (4)
Heidi - mugsly Boston Terrier X - she is in BIG trouble!!! (3)
Audrey - torbie - sweet as pie (11 months)
Patrick - blue - a little turd (but we like him anyways) (6 months)
__________
Boo, our Matriarch (August 1 1992 - March 29 2011)
Riley and Molly
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Old July 28th, 2011, 02:04 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rgeurts View Post
There's just something about a cute, fuzzy caterpillar that makes it being a larva less icky lol. I thought this one was cool because it was "bald" and still colorful. But as soon as I saw the word larva, I just pictured maggots and my skin started to crawl!
Ya, I hear ya, Robyn...I wuz hopin' fer a purrrdy butterfly and all I got was a sawfly.

Oh, but I did see a monarch fem laying eggs on the milkweed plants in the hummingbird garden this morning!
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Old July 28th, 2011, 04:07 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rgeurts View Post
There's just something about a cute, fuzzy caterpillar that makes it being a larva less icky lol.
Unless it just so happens to be a tent caterpillar:



That'll up the ick factor considerably!
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