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#1
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Water butt beastie
Plunging a bucket into my water butt this morning to give the roses a bit of
help through the dry spell, I noticed four or five unfamiliar beasties twitching in the drawn water. Each is about a quarter of an inch long, mostly clear but with darker areas transversely and a definite head end. There is a very thin, quite short, breathing tube (I assume) at the other end. Not any variety of mozzie larva I know. Any suggestions? -- Brian "posting from Sutton, Winner of the English and Welsh Village of the Year award" |
#2
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Water butt beastie
Well, it is some kind of insect larva...
all I have is North American species pages but this page looks promising ~ http://www.ceh.ac.uk/subsites/eic/ddc/furselist/ let us know if you ID the critter! k30a |
#3
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Water butt beastie
"K30a" wrote in message ... Well, it is some kind of insect larva... all I have is North American species pages but this page looks promising ~ http://www.ceh.ac.uk/subsites/eic/ddc/furselist/ let us know if you ID the critter! Thank you. A good start! -- Brian "Stuck down a hole, in the fog, in the middle of the night, with an owl." |
#4
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Water butt beastie
"Brian Watson" wrote in message ... Plunging a bucket into my water butt this morning to give the roses a bit of help through the dry spell, I noticed four or five unfamiliar beasties twitching in the drawn water. You only have one kind? Golly, there must be half a dozen different kinds in our butt - but only in the open one. The ones with lids have no visible life in them, must be a lesson there ! Mary |
#5
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Water butt beastie
In article , Mary Fisher
writes Golly, there must be half a dozen different kinds in our butt Nasty! -- __________________________________________ Gareth Jones "Reality sucks - go watch a Star Trek" To email, remove the '_ns_' from __________________________________________ |
#6
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Water butt beastie
"Gareth Jones" wrote in message ... In article , Mary Fisher writes Golly, there must be half a dozen different kinds in our butt Nasty! Well, I don't know. They don't seem unfriendly. They don't smile at me either mind you ... I don't mind them. Mary |
#7
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Water butt beastie
In article , Mary Fisher
writes Golly, there must be half a dozen different kinds in our butt Nasty! Well, I don't know. They don't seem unfriendly. They don't smile at me either mind you ... ROTFLMFHO!!!!! It must be great being double jointed! -- __________________________________________ Gareth Jones "Reality sucks - go watch a Star Trek" To email, remove the '_ns_' from __________________________________________ |
#8
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Water butt beastie
"Mary Fisher" wrote in message t... "Brian Watson" wrote in message ... Plunging a bucket into my water butt this morning to give the roses a bit of help through the dry spell, I noticed four or five unfamiliar beasties twitching in the drawn water. You only have one kind? No, I have several kinds. It's just that I can't identify this kind! Golly, there must be half a dozen different kinds in our butt - but only in the open one. The ones with lids have no visible life in them, must be a lesson there ! I have a lid on mine but I assume the parents got in where the inpipe passes through that lid. Had another look this morning. The bodies have a kind of blotchy, almost zigzag dark pattern when viewed from above, and the pipe-type "tail" is actually about as long as the body. Any ideas? -- Brian "Stuck down a hole, in the fog, in the middle of the night, with an owl." |
#9
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Water butt beastie
Sarah wrote Some type of hoverfly larva? Specifically that known as the
'rat-tailed maggot', the larva of the Drone Fly _Eristalis tenax_ I've had those, in a fishless pond, they are very kewl critters. We brought them inside (of course!) and watched them noodle around and breathe through their extended 'tails'. Mine were grey in colour, very maggoty in appearance, excepting the breathing tube. k30a |
#10
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Water butt beastie
"sw" wrote in message ... Brian Watson wrote: The bodies have a kind of blotchy, almost zigzag dark pattern when viewed from above, and the pipe-type "tail" is actually about as long as the body. Any ideas? Some type of hoverfly larva? Specifically that known as the 'rat-tailed maggot', the larva of the Drone Fly _Eristalis tenax_ (the tube is very extensible). I have these in my half-barrel 'pond' and would not be surprised to find them in a water butt to which the adults could gain access. They are harmless, and the adults are good pollinators. http://res2.agr.ca/lethbridge/scitech/kdf/rat_e.htm Excellent! That's the one, I'm sure. "Adults feed on nectar and probably serve a minor beneficial role by pollinating flowers" and "harmless to livestock, pets and people" Thank you very much. -- Brian "Stuck down a hole, in the fog, in the middle of the night, with an owl." |
#11
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Water butt beastie
Brian Watson wrote:
[-] I have a lid on mine but I assume the parents got in where the inpipe passes through that lid. Had another look this morning. The bodies have a kind of blotchy, almost zigzag dark pattern when viewed from above, and the pipe-type "tail" is actually about as long as the body. Any ideas? Some type of hoverfly larva? Specifically that known as the 'rat-tailed maggot', the larva of the Drone Fly _Eristalis tenax_ (the tube is very extensible). I have these in my half-barrel 'pond' and would not be surprised to find them in a water butt to which the adults could gain access. They are harmless, and the adults are good pollinators. http://res2.agr.ca/lethbridge/scitech/kdf/rat_e.htm regards sarah -- Waist deep, neck deep We'll be drowning before too long We're neck deep in the Big Muddy And the damned fools keep yelling to push on |
#12
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Water butt beastie
Brian Watson wrote:
"sw" wrote in message ... Brian Watson wrote: The bodies have a kind of blotchy, almost zigzag dark pattern when viewed from above, and the pipe-type "tail" is actually about as long as the body. Any ideas? Some type of hoverfly larva? Specifically that known as the 'rat-tailed maggot', the larva of the Drone Fly _Eristalis tenax_ (the tube is very extensible). I have these in my half-barrel 'pond' and would not be surprised to find them in a water butt to which the adults could gain access. They are harmless, and the adults are good pollinators. http://res2.agr.ca/lethbridge/scitech/kdf/rat_e.htm Excellent! That's the one, I'm sure. "Adults feed on nectar and probably serve a minor beneficial role by pollinating flowers" and "harmless to livestock, pets and people" Thank you very much. My pleasure :-) regards sarah -- Waist deep, neck deep We'll be drowning before too long We're neck deep in the Big Muddy And the damned fools keep yelling to push on |
#13
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Water butt beastie
Some type of hoverfly larva? Specifically that known as the 'rat-tailed maggot', the larva of the Drone Fly _Eristalis tenax_ (the tube is very extensible). I have these in my half-barrel 'pond' and would not be surprised to find them in a water butt to which the adults could gain access. They are harmless, and the adults are good pollinators. And our hens just love the larvae ... Thanks for the site. Mary |
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