Unidentified Larvae.

demicav · #1 (**permalink**) 06-08-2007, 05:32 PM

I've found quite a few of these on the kitchen wall today, near the pet food cupboard, also found some in the Guinea Pig food. I've no idea what they are. They are very tiny, about 1 cm long. At first I thought they were some kind of Caterpillar, now I don't think so. Could they be Sawfly larvae ? or some beetle larvae ? I'm wondering if they are some pest species ? I have about 10/11 in a petri dish at the moment till I identify them. They're not interested in the leaves I've put in there. One other thing, they constantly spin silk and our dangling and sticking all over with it. Can anyone help ??

wildlifesnapper · #2 (**permalink**) 06-08-2007, 05:35 PM

Hi ,

it looks like some sort of micro moth larva , maybee one of the "house" moths ?

neil

wyevilla · #3 (**permalink**) 06-08-2007, 05:49 PM

Hi demicav

I think wildlifesnpper is on to something here. It looks very much like the larva of the Meal moth, Pyralis farinalis. They're likely to be coming from the dry pet food. The larvae spin a silken case and feed on grain. Why not add some cereal and see if you can keep them 'til they pupate? Much easier to identify the adults!

demicav · #4 (**permalink**) 06-08-2007, 06:13 PM

Thank you for your replys. You're definately onto something. I did some googling and they look like an Indian meal moth. I think they've come from the Guinea pig food, hopefully I've got to it in time, apparently they can cover a large area in search of food and eat alsorts. They are regularly transported in pet food as it's not treated for human consumption beforehand. As for keeping them, I'm highly tempted but my other half isn't too keen. The kids are fascinated though. Will have to think about that one.

demicav · #5 (**permalink**) 08-08-2007, 09:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wyevilla

Hi demicav

I think wildlifesnpper is on to something here. It looks very much like the larva of the Meal moth, Pyralis farinalis. They're likely to be coming from the dry pet food. The larvae spin a silken case and feed on grain. Why not add some cereal and see if you can keep them 'til they pupate? Much easier to identify the adults!

Just to let you know that we still have them at the moment, 11 in total. Thay're busy tucking into their coco pops and special k cereal

.

wyevilla · #6 (**permalink**) 09-08-2007, 09:40 PM

Hi Demicav

Well, well. If we believe the advertisements, the larvae feeding on Special K should lose weight. Those eating choccy cereal should become obese (according to Jamie Oliver)

So you are in an ideal position to get to the truth in the great food debate. Can we ask you to conduct the experiment to test these hypotheses? Weigh the two sets of larvae, after a week or so, and let us know the results.

I know what I'm putting my money on.

demicav · #7 (**permalink**) 10-08-2007, 07:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wyevilla

Hi Demicav

Well, well. If we believe the advertisements, the larvae feeding on Special K should lose weight. Those eating choccy cereal should become obese (according to Jamie Oliver)

So you are in an ideal position to get to the truth in the great food debate. Can we ask you to conduct the experiment to test these hypotheses? Weigh the two sets of larvae, after a week or so, and let us know the results.

I know what I'm putting my money on.

It'll be interesting to see if some develop faster than the others. We go away soon so I've arranged a responsible minder for them, just like I do for the pets

. There are 12 now as I found one more.