Well, I found the egg mass by chance, 12 hours later they'd hatched, 12 hours after that, you would never know they had been there! I haven't been able to ID them, but I have a few guesses. I was thinking maybe sawflies, now I'm thinking some kind of moth. When they were still on the plant, if I tapped the stem, the tiny 1 millimeter caterpillars would drop from a strand of silk, and the stem they were on was covered in silk by the time the left. It was hard to see, but they moved like an inchworm. That makes me think moth. Maybe a type of cutworm moth. That's the best I could do, unless I see something getting massively defoliated, I'll probably never know for sure.
Click on the picture to see a larger version, it's hard to get the camera to focus on 1 millimeter caterpillars.
WOW - I hope Heather comes by and identifies them!
ReplyDeleteOh Ellen, you jes bein sassy now!
ReplyDeleteI would say sawflies with the dark heads and webbed casings.
ReplyDeleteHeather
I guess I should have read they move like inch worms... That would definitely mean moth. Hmm... Let's see what happens when they get a little bigger.
ReplyDeleteOld Stone, I think it's you that's bein sassy!
ReplyDeleteHeather, thanks for chiming in!
Old Stone loves to be sassy! But truly, Heather is my "go to girl" for all things buggy!
ReplyDeleteVery cool, Julie! Awesome shots. I hope you find the little critters again when they're big enough to ID, I'd love to know what they are.
ReplyDelete