MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
Sprucing up the garden during lock down and came across this in some overgrown, but dead plants in a flower bed.
More than an inch long. It moves. Sometimes.
Has a sort of mini tongue at one end that wriggles about.
Google searches difficult. Best I can do is say that it looks like a much bigger version of the black soldier fly larvae.
Closest seems to be hornet larvae. But surely not this big. And in Blighty?
So, STW hive mind, what is it? And will it suck the brains out of my skull?
No idea, and yes, possibly.
Kill it with fire.
Hedgehog poo
Moth pupa, most likely, could be a hawk moth. I used to collect Privet zhawk moth caterpillars and keep them until they pupated, then watch them hatch; I’d put them on damp blotting paper to help the pups case soften, then release the moths once their wings dried out.
If you’ve got some sand or fine soil, put it into a sandwich box or some other small container with the pupa on top, and wait and see what hatches, shouldn’t be too long now.
This is a privet hawk moth pupa, which looks very much like what you’ve got...
And this is the adult, quite a beautiful creature...
It should be treasured, and certainly not killed!
This is an Elephant Hawk moth pupa...
And this is the glorious adult moth, looks too exotic for a British moth...
It is a hawk moth pupae, looks like elephant or hummingbird
Watch Silence of the Lambs with the wife and then leave it lying around the house...
Cheers all. Top spotting. Based on your info, it's the elephant hawk moth I think. Size is about bob on and there is the little black tip at the far end.
Or else it's that thing that will suck my brains out. If I don't post for a while, followed by some really sensible and insightful musings, you'll know it's got control of me.
Thanks again.
Is it a leatherjacket?
I remember these from Dr Who:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01bwbcr/p01bwb8j
Get rid of it now, ‘cos when it grows it will do this:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01bwbcr/p01bw9yj
Watch Silence of the Lambs with the wife and then leave it lying around the house…
Heh! I did wonder if it might be a Death’s Head Hawkmoth, but they’re huge, the pupa didn’t look large enough. They’re not common in the U.K., sadly, but then hawk moths in general aren’t that common these days.
I’d love to find one of those elephant hawk moth pupae, just to see it hatch, such a stunning colour.