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#1
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Insect identification: "jumping eggs" in the Sacramento Valley
A friend of mine has asked me to help her identify something she found
in her garden this week. She noticed that the soil under one of her plants appeared to be moving. When she looked closer, she found a large number of small, light-colored things, the size of a poppy seed or somewhat smaller, that appeared to be jumping around. I thought at first that the things must be insects or larvae, but she told me that they are round, with no identifiable features. She says that they appear to be eggs. Her location is in the vicinity of California's Sacramento Valley. She made a short video of the jumping eggs, which I am posting on the Web. She couldn't get close enough to make it show detail of individual "eggs," but it shows the movement pretty clearly. http://www.amphigoricbooks.com/jumping-egg.WMV Does anyone know what these things could be? |
#2
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Insect identification: "jumping eggs" in the Sacramento Valley
On Sun, 15 Jul 2007 13:51:30 GMT, Steve wrote:
On Sun, 15 Jul 2007 13:20:15 GMT, Jonathan Sachs wrote: Does anyone know what these things could be? I'm going with "a really cool hoax". I should add that she took a sample to a nursery and four staff members said they had seen the same thing, although they didn't know what it was. She's going to visit the local ag extension office to see if they can identify the things. She may not have time until late in the coming week, though, and if the jumping eggs are gone by then they will remain a mystery. I hope someone familiar with the area can help out. |
#3
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Insect identification: "jumping eggs" in the Sacramento Valley
Jonathan Sachs wrote:
A friend of mine has asked me to help her identify something she found in her garden this week. She noticed that the soil under one of her plants appeared to be moving. When she looked closer, she found a large number of small, light-colored things, the size of a poppy seed or somewhat smaller, that appeared to be jumping around. I thought at first that the things must be insects or larvae, but she told me that they are round, with no identifiable features. She says that they appear to be eggs. Her location is in the vicinity of California's Sacramento Valley. She made a short video of the jumping eggs, which I am posting on the Web. She couldn't get close enough to make it show detail of individual "eggs," but it shows the movement pretty clearly. http://www.amphigoricbooks.com/jumping-egg.WMV Does anyone know what these things could be? I would guess her garden is under an oak tree... have her look up Jumping Oak Gall. Interesting little creature that can appear time to time when conditions are right. There is a tiny wasp larvae inside. Lar |
#4
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Insect identification: "jumping eggs" in the Sacramento Valley
In article ,
Lar wrote: Jonathan Sachs wrote: A friend of mine has asked me to help her identify something she found in her garden this week. She noticed that the soil under one of her plants appeared to be moving. When she looked closer, she found a large number of small, light-colored things, the size of a poppy seed or somewhat smaller, that appeared to be jumping around. I thought at first that the things must be insects or larvae, but she told me that they are round, with no identifiable features. She says that they appear to be eggs. Her location is in the vicinity of California's Sacramento Valley. She made a short video of the jumping eggs, which I am posting on the Web. She couldn't get close enough to make it show detail of individual "eggs," but it shows the movement pretty clearly. http://www.amphigoricbooks.com/jumping-egg.WMV Does anyone know what these things could be? I would guess her garden is under an oak tree... have her look up Jumping Oak Gall. Interesting little creature that can appear time to time when conditions are right. There is a tiny wasp larvae inside. Lar Your description reminds me of Mexican Jumping beans. The rage in the early 1950's. Bill http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_jumping_bean -- S Jersey USA Zone 5 Shade http://www.ocutech.com/ High tech Vison aid This article is posted under fair use rules in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, and is strictly for the educational and informative purposes. This material is distributed without profit. |
#5
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Insect identification: "jumping eggs" in the Sacramento Valley
On Sun, 15 Jul 2007 11:57:42 -0400, William Wagner
wrote: Your description reminds me of Mexican Jumping beans. The rage in the early 1950's. That did occur to me, although Mexican Jumping Poppy Seeds -- especially light-colored ones -- would arouse justifiable skepticism. The oak gall idea certainly sounds possible, and we will check it out. |
#6
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Insect identification: "jumping eggs" in the Sacramento Valley
On Sun, 15 Jul 2007 10:41:32 -0500, Lar wrote:
I would guess her garden is under an oak tree... have her look up Jumping Oak Gall. Interesting little creature that can appear time to time when conditions are right. There is a tiny wasp larvae inside. You would guess right! I looked it up myself, and it did appear to match the description and the video. When I told her, she confirmed that there is an oak tree over her house whose droppings would slide off the roof onto this one particular place. Thank you -- I'm just about sure that you have solved the mystery. |
#7
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Insect identification: "jumping eggs" in the Sacramento Valley
On Jul 15, 1:14 pm, Jonathan Sachs wrote:
On Sun, 15 Jul 2007 10:41:32 -0500, Lar wrote: I would guess her garden is under an oak tree... have her look up Jumping Oak Gall. Interesting little creature that can appear time to time when conditions are right. There is a tiny wasp larvae inside. You would guess right! I looked it up myself, and it did appear to match the description and the video. When I told her, she confirmed that there is an oak tree over her house whose droppings would slide off the roof onto this one particular place. Thank you -- I'm just about sure that you have solved the mystery. I just noticed this today, here in Sacramento. Pretty amazing! |
#8
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Insect identification: "jumping eggs" in the Sacramento Valley
wasp larvae inside? what kind of wasps and should we try to get rid of
them? |
#9
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Insect identification: "jumping eggs" in the Sacramento Valley
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#10
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Insect identification: "jumping eggs" in the Sacramento Valley
On Jul 27, 3:41 pm, Lar wrote:
wrote: wasp larvae inside? what kind of wasps and should we try to get rid of them? No need to do anything about them...there are hundreds if not thousands of species of wasps around your home and most are very tiny and very beneficial. Not sure if the adults of these are considered beneficial or as most insects, placed in the of no consequence group. Lar Thank you for all your insight as to what this mysterious "thing" was all over my patio. Thousands of them have been collecting in a plastic "doggie" pool and creating quite some confusion around my house. Nobody seemed to believe what we were seeing. I looked up jumping oak gall and that is exactly what they are. We have MANY oak trees in the ravine behind our home so these little buggers are everwhere! Lori |
#11
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Insect identification: "jumping eggs" in the Sacramento Valley
On Sunday, July 15, 2007 2:32:27 PM UTC, Jonathan Sachs wrote:
On Sun, 15 Jul 2007 13:51:30 GMT, Steve wrote: On Sun, 15 Jul 2007 13:20:15 GMT, Jonathan Sachs wrote: Does anyone know what these things could be? I'm going with "a really cool hoax". I should add that she took a sample to a nursery and four staff members said they had seen the same thing, although they didn't know what it was. She's going to visit the local ag extension office to see if they can identify the things. She may not have time until late in the coming week, though, and if the jumping eggs are gone by then they will remain a mystery. I hope someone familiar with the area can help out. "Jean" Mary Schaefer, Attorney at Law 2560 Castlewood Drive, Sacramento, CA 95821 916-925-4400 |
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