Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum

Cultivation => Cultivation Problems => Topic started by: annew on September 05, 2012, 04:14:04 PM

Title: Insects, bugs etc for ID please
Post by: annew on September 05, 2012, 04:14:04 PM: It's about time we had a thread for our invertebrate experts.
I noticed today that my lovely Larix kaempferi Nana had been half-defoliated by something. On closer inspection, these little monsters were revealed. Any ideas? Google is not terribly helpful so far.
Title: Re: Insects, bugs etc for ID please
Post by: mark smyth on September 05, 2012, 04:32:48 PM: where are blue tits when you need them!?
Title: Re: Insects, bugs etc for ID please
Post by: Giles on September 05, 2012, 05:29:33 PM: ..perhaps larch sawfly caterpillars..
Title: Re: Insects, bugs etc for ID please
Post by: Maggi Young on September 05, 2012, 05:34:05 PM: Quote from: Giles on September 05, 2012, 05:29:33 PM
..perhaps larch sawfly caterpillars..
..... haven't they got dark heads? :-\
Title: Re: Insects, bugs etc for ID please
Post by: John Aipassa on September 05, 2012, 06:09:36 PM: Looks like a Winter Moth Operophtera brumata : http://ukmoths.org.uk/show.php?id=1205 (http://ukmoths.org.uk/show.php?id=1205)

They feed on many trees and shrubs and can become pests.
Title: Re: Insects, bugs etc for ID please
Post by: Guus on September 05, 2012, 06:17:49 PM: Defenitely some kind of sawfly.
Greetings, Guus
Title: Re: Insects, bugs etc for ID please
Post by: annew on September 05, 2012, 09:27:37 PM: I don't think I can add them to my sawfly collection, they don't look like the photos of larch sawfly. Winter moth looks right but my larvae aren't loopers.
Title: Re: Insects, bugs etc for ID please
Post by: daveyp1970 on September 05, 2012, 09:43:56 PM: Is it the two lined larch sawfly?
Title: Re: Insects, bugs etc for ID please
Post by: annew on September 05, 2012, 09:54:44 PM: They have 8 pairs of pro legs and are smaller than mine even full-grown. Says google.
Title: Re: Insects, bugs etc for ID please
Post by: John Aipassa on September 05, 2012, 11:03:52 PM: Quote from: annew on September 05, 2012, 09:27:37 PM
Winter moth looks right but my larvae aren't loopers.

Anne,

They only loop when you are not looking :P ;D ;D.

Try to keep one to metamorphosize and you'll know what kind of bug it is.
Title: Re: Insects, bugs etc for ID please
Post by: annew on September 06, 2012, 09:52:52 AM: With apologies to Aristotle, I'm not sure if I have any live ones left…. ::)
Title: Re: Insects, bugs etc for ID please
Post by: John Aipassa on September 06, 2012, 11:14:35 AM: Quote from: annew on September 06, 2012, 09:52:52 AM
With apologies to Aristotle, I'm not sure if I have any live ones left…. ::)

I am sure he wouldn't mind you saving the Larix 8)
Title: Re: Insects, bugs etc for ID please
Post by: ArnoldT on September 06, 2012, 03:49:05 PM: Anne:

What did you use to 'control' the pest?
Title: Re: Insects, bugs etc for ID please
Post by: maggiepie on September 29, 2012, 12:22:00 PM: A friend found this in her garden ( Ohio, USA) yesterday.
Neither of us have ever seen anything quite like it before.
Not a very good pic but only one she had.
Hoping someone can ID it.
Title: Re: Insects, bugs etc for ID please
Post by: ronm on September 29, 2012, 12:29:51 PM: Its a Red Headed Bush Cricket, Phyllopalpus pulchellus. 8)
Title: Re: Insects, bugs etc for ID please
Post by: maggiepie on September 29, 2012, 01:27:09 PM: Thank you so much, Ron.

Love the quick service in SRGC ;D ;D ;D
Title: Re: Insects, bugs etc for ID please
Post by: Anthony Darby on October 14, 2012, 09:28:32 AM: Just found this thread. Don't usually look in the cultivation problems as insects for identification usually turn up in the wildlife thread. The caterpillar is a sawfly caterpillar. The head with its black "eye" is very characteristic. Similar to this one: http://www.pbase.com/image/52453851 (http://www.pbase.com/image/52453851)
Title: Re: Insects, bugs etc for ID please
Post by: annew on October 14, 2012, 01:11:03 PM: I think I'd got that far, Anthony. I wondered if it was a notifiable species - If it did the same to a larch plantation as they did to my little tree it would be a serious problem.
Title: Re: Insects, bugs etc for ID please
Post by: Anthony Darby on October 15, 2012, 12:52:44 AM: I've tried to look, but they don't seem to be a fashionable group to study so you'd need an expert or a monograph with descriptions to identify it.