useful worm eats Galium aparine - Halidamia affinis

Moved

Moved from Unidentified Sawfly Larvae.

… John R. Maxwell, 14 May, 2013 - 12:52am

Moved

Moved from ID Request.

… John R. Maxwell, 24 March, 2011 - 4:12pm

Sawfly larva

Maybe the same as (or close to) this one...

... that evidently has the same food plant.

… Ken Wolgemuth, 24 March, 2011 - 4:07pm

worm on Galium aparine

Cool! That was quick. Sawfly! There are more sawflies hereabouts that one might imagine. What's the one that eats up the Cissus incisa?

Does this one also eat the native Galiums? That would be interesting.

… Twrch Twryth, 24 March, 2011 - 4:33pm

Raise it

and it may be easier to ID.

… John R. Maxwell, 24 March, 2011 - 5:21pm

useful worm

Yes. Raise it. So what does one do? Put the worm and some of its preferred food in a shoe box? Then, await its metamorphosis? I am likely to give it a shot. But what if it doesn't like the shoe box?

Yes, I have alas forgotten most of Ento. 101. A refresher notification on raising the various herbivorous vermin to matriculation might be in order.

More on this.

OK. I am pretty sure that Galium aparine dies as soon as it gets dug up no matter how much of the root one gets. That means a cage would need to enclose both the weed and the worms in situ. How much weed would a couple of worms need? I know some of them, for example, Hyphantria larvae, eat a lot. Maybe sawflies don't eat that much. But who knows?

Well. I may try to rig something up. But suggestions would be welcome. I would rather not have to think much more about it.

… Twrch Twryth, 24 March, 2011 - 5:48pm

Trial and error

I have raised all kinds of little creatures with different rates of success. See for instance this sawfly.
You may find some ideas in the life cycles reported here.
Good luck with your babies.

… Beatriz Moisset, 29 March, 2011 - 8:44am

Raising

I've only ever raised one, but I just put it in a jar with very small holes and gave it fresh food until it became a cocoon, then waited.

There are probably other ideas here (read the tips on the images)
http://bugguide.net/node/view/86947/bgimage
And this might help, too.
http://bugguide.net/node/view/203352

… John R. Maxwell, 25 March, 2011 - 8:01am

useful worm

Thanks. Duh. Didn't consider just harvesting more food for the worms daily. There is no shortage of bedstraw around here. Also, thanks for the links.

… Twrch Twryth, 25 March, 2011 - 8:53am