A primula in a pot was wilting, so I tipped it out and found a couple of
grubs, larger than VW, grey-ey fawn, but most distinctive feature was a
long 'tail' as long as the grub itself. Any ideas?
--
Kay

Charlie Pridham writes

"K" wrote in message
...
A primula in a pot was wilting, so I tipped it out and found a couple of
grubs, larger than VW, grey-ey fawn, but most distinctive feature was a
long 'tail' as long as the grub itself. Any ideas?
--
Bit puzzled by the term tail so this is a bit of a guess but may be one of
the cut worms aka swift moth caterpillars.

No, not a moth larvae.

Sausage shaped thing, no visible legs or pseudo-legs, but from the back
end protruded a very fine hair like thing about the length of the grub
body.

--
Kay

On 9/7/06 11:40, in article , "K"
wrote:

snip

Sausage shaped thing, no visible legs or pseudo-legs, but from the back
end protruded a very fine hair like thing about the length of the grub
body.

Try this, Kay: http://tinyurl.com/jfwym
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(email address on website)

Sacha writes
On 9/7/06 11:40, in article , "K"
wrote:

snip

Sausage shaped thing, no visible legs or pseudo-legs, but from the back
end protruded a very fine hair like thing about the length of the grub
body.

Try this, Kay: http://tinyurl.com/jfwym

That's rat-tailed maggot and is almost exactly what it looks like. But
that is the larva of the drone fly (a hover fly that looks very like a
honey bee) and the larva lives in muddy polluted ponds - the 'tail' is a
breathing tube I believe. I keep my primulas moist, but not that moist!

But googling on 'rat tailed larva' throws up a few references to other
creatures, eg some crane flies, also having rat-tailed larvae, all
living in wettish areas, eg one of them lives in cavities where rotting
leaves have lodged and has the rat tail for periods of waterlogging.


--
Kay