Thursday, January 27, 2011

What WAS this thing?

I saw a bizarre insect in my garden today. It was "standing" straight up and down, as if its bottom half were growing out of the ground. Its legs were up at its head around the eyes. There seemed to be wings folded along its back. I brought out dh to look at it and he said its probably laying eggs all over my garden and the offspring will devour the whole thing. So I squished it, and pulled all the surrounding dirt out - no chances! When I picked it up I found that it's bottom half - very wormy/caterpillary like - was inside an old stalk of some small plant. I mean small like an old flower stem or even the stem of some cilantro or other herb. Sorry about the fuzzy pics but these were the best that would come out. And then of course it was squished/squashed and there were no more photo opportunities.



Anyone know what it is? (was)

6 comments:

  1. Hmmm...never seen one before - but I think hubs' answer was pretty funny. ha!

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  2. I keep checking back to see if anyone has identified it! It looks like a little space creature :-) I have to admit, my first thought was very similar to your husband's....it looks like it's laying eggs.

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  3. i sent in photos to a website called: What's that bug? I'm really curious. I hope they are able to answer me.

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  4. Ok, I received a very brief answer back from the bug place - which is better than NO answer :)
    Crane Fly

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  5. Ok, I just looked up Crane Fly which is also what I've always called a Mosquito Eater. This didn't look like one of those. It had a squirmy wormy bottom/tail, not one of those dragonfly looking ones like the other mosquito eaters i've seen. maybe a different "breed" of crane fly?

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  6. Hmm, not sure what it is but looks yucky.

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