Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada
Giving Tuesday

Do you use BugGuide? Please consider a monetary gift on this Giving Tuesday.

Donate Now

Your donation to BugGuide is tax-deductible.



Clickable Guide
Moths Butterflies Flies Caterpillars Flies Dragonflies Flies Mantids Cockroaches Bees and Wasps Walkingsticks Earwigs Ants Termites Hoppers and Kin Hoppers and Kin Beetles True Bugs Fleas Grasshoppers and Kin Ticks Spiders Scorpions Centipedes Millipedes

Calendar
Upcoming Events

Photos of insects and people from the 2024 BugGuide gathering in Idaho July 24-27

Moth submissions from National Moth Week 2024

Photos of insects and people from the 2022 BugGuide gathering in New Mexico, July 20-24

Photos of insects and people from the Spring 2021 gathering in Louisiana, April 28-May 2

Photos of insects and people from the 2019 gathering in Louisiana, July 25-27

Photos of insects and people from the 2018 gathering in Virginia, July 27-29


Previous events


TaxonomyBrowseInfoImagesLinksBooksData
Photo#440524
Unidentified larva in the center of a peach

Unidentified larva in the center of a peach
Scott County, Virginia, USA
August 11, 2010
Is this a plum curculio larva? I know the pictures aren't that great --- it wouldn't sit still for me. It's in the center of each of the peaches on my tree. As you can see in a later picture, the fruit has a bit of gum marking the entrance of the insect. The centers of the peaches are full of frass.

When I pulled one of the larvae out, I could tell that it had a brown head, but couldn't get it to sit still long enough to really look at the legs. It clearly had some sort of legs --- maybe three bigger ones in the front and then several prolegs, but they could also have easily all been prolegs.

I was picking up the larva on the end of a knife, and it spun a silk thread to dangle below the knife. Then it started twirling vigorously, I guess to work its way back up the thread?

Images of this individual: tag all
Unidentified larva in the center of a peach Unidentified larva in the center of a peach

Moved

Moved
Moved from ID Request.

Its a caterpillar, probably i
Its a caterpillar, probably in the genus Cydia. From the color I would guess Cydia molesta (Oriental Fruit Moth) or Cydia pomonella (Codling Moth), but I don't know what other options might be in your area.

 
It's actually a Wasp larva.
I personally witnessed and video logged a Wasp planting a larva into the crack of a ceramic grape ornament today. Being very curious by this I quickly recorded it and researched this strange act using the handy lens application on my Google phone. I saw that there were no results on the origin of this lava, but that they were commonly found in fruit. I quickly deduced that the Wasp was genuinely tricked by the pretense of real fruit and had safely stashed away it's Young in a death cradle. I generally found the irony of this quite amusing. I am glad to have informed at least this log of my findings, for whatever it may be worth.

Comment viewing options
Select your preferred way to display the comments and click 'Save settings' to activate your changes.