Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat

Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: xt600 on April 13, 2013, 15:07

Title: Identification?
Post by: xt600 on April 13, 2013, 15:07

Can anyone identify this please? I've found loads of them while digging over my allotment ... 
There are like a transparent sack with orangy/brown gunge at one end.
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/7/bugimag0131.jpg/

Title: Re: Identification?
Post by: ANHBUC on April 13, 2013, 20:34

Is the transparent sack plastic?

Title: Re: Identification?
Post by: mumofstig on April 13, 2013, 20:43

I did think empty pupal/larval case............but it certainly does look like plastic  :unsure:

Title: Re: Identification?
Post by: Mark's Sussex Allotment on April 13, 2013, 20:47

How strange. Rusty nail in a sack lol

Title: Re: Identification?
Post by: xt600 on April 13, 2013, 20:48

No, it's not plastic :-)   If you pick it up it's quite delicate, and certainly not 'empty' or 'used'. It's about the size of a small finger nail.

Title: Re: Identification?
Post by: snowdrops on April 13, 2013, 20:52

Looks a bit like a tablet say antibiotic. They're not plastic though they look it

Title: Re: Identification?
Post by: mumofstig on April 13, 2013, 20:58

Empty pupa/larval cases can look like that, perhaps the butterfly/moth (whatever) has died and that explains the mushy brown bit.

A full then empty case shown here, so you can see what I mean

(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_aYeeLpP4qmg/R6pQdcfp6SI/AAAAAAAAAFQ/pLZFigukRf0/s320/pupa-2-DSC_2673.jpg)

Title: Re: Identification?
Post by: snowdrops on April 13, 2013, 21:00

Mum that looks fabulous what is it?

Title: Re: Identification?
Post by: Salmo on April 13, 2013, 21:01

How big are they? Could they have been in compost or farmyard manure that you have spread?

Are there grass snakes locally? If so could they be empty egg cases?

Title: Re: Identification?
Post by: mumofstig on April 13, 2013, 21:05

Quote from: snowdrops on April 13, 2013, 21:00

Mum that looks fabulous what is it?

I only found it by Googling pupal cases, looking for something to show what I meant - it was from this site near the bottom of the page.

http://bpals.blogspot.co.uk/2008_02_01_archive.html

Title: Re: Identification?
Post by: xt600 on April 13, 2013, 21:36

I'm pretty sure they're not empty cases. There's lots of them, usually a few inches below the surface of the soil. I found some whilst digging last season, but there's many more this time...

Title: Re: Identification?
Post by: ANHBUC on April 14, 2013, 13:39

Growster managed to get a bug identified recently by contacting
THESE (http://www.britishbugs.org.uk)

It might be worth sending them a photo with the information on where found, size etc.   ;)