Monster Grub sighted!

[nomoss]

Can anyone identify this beast?

 

[IMG]http://i857.photobucket.com/albums/ab131/nomoss/Posted%20on%20Forums/PA230002crop.jpg[/IMG]

[woolybanana]

Norman, at last, an up to date foto

[basquesteve]

I could prehaps identify it if it was in focus where did you find it

[woolybanana]

In a barrel?

[nomoss]

Sorry about the focus, it was getting dark and that was the best our camera could do.

It was strolling across the concrete pad in front of the house.

[Loiseau]

Stag beetle grub?

Angela

[Alex H]

Cockchafer Larvae?

http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/forums/eggs-larvae-and-caterpillars/11237-larvae-could-cockchafer.html

[andyh4]

I don't think so Alex.  The size is right, but Nomoss's picture shows a much thinner and sleeker larvae and the colour seems wrong.  The head part also seems to be less defined than a cockchafer.

[Chancer]

A ribbed tickler? [:-))]

Or is that the same as a cockchafer? [;-)]

I asked a French friend and he was mystified, he said that in all his life he has never come across anything so bizarre, it must be foreign, he recognises the centimetres but not those other strange units!

[nomoss]

Looking at images online it wasn't a cockchafer or stag beetle larva. The skin was leathery looking with no hairs, the head not prominent, there was a suggestion of a spike on the tail end, and it was very mobile. The skin reminded me of a "leatherjacket", but much bigger and active than one of those.

It was travelling steadily across the concrete and ignored shallow puddles, simply continuing across them in a straight line. When I touched it it curled up in a half hearted way and continued in the same direction shortly afterwards. Maybe it was moving from below ground after been flooded out by the previous heavy rain.

[Alex H]

[quote user="Chancer"]

A ribbed tickler? [:-))]

Or is that the same as a cockchafer? [;-)]

[/quote]

Apparently Old English -

C o c k = Maleness

Chafer = To Gnaw

(So worse than you were thinking then [:D])

However;

"In the Middle Ages collecting the adult beetles was really the only way

that people could try to control their numbers and protect their crops.

In France, this gave rise to events that seem bizarre from a modern day

perspective. In 1320, Cockchafers were brought to court in Avignon and

sentenced to withdraw within three days into a specially designated

area, otherwise they would be outlawed. Subsequently, since they failed

to comply, they were collected en masse and killed." [:D]

[basquesteve]

 You may have hit upon its name a Leatherjacket/Cranefly

 

[quote user="nomoss"]

Looking at images online it wasn't a cockchafer or stag beetle larva. The skin was leathery looking with no hairs, the head not prominent, there was a suggestion of a spike on the tail end, and it was very mobile. The skin reminded me of a "leatherjacket", but much bigger and active than one of those.

It was travelling steadily across the concrete and ignored shallow puddles, simply continuing across them in a straight line. When I touched it it curled up in a half hearted way and continued in the same direction shortly afterwards. Maybe it was moving from below ground after been flooded out by the previous heavy rain.

[/quote]

[nomoss]

Maybe I'll hunt it down - it can't have gone far, and shut it up until it pupates and eventually reaches adulthood. That is, if I can figure out what it eats[:)]

[Gardengirl]

I think it could be a leatherjacket - crane fly larvae can measure up to 5cm!

[nomoss]

[quote user="gardengirl "]I think it could be a leatherjacket - crane fly larvae can measure up to 5cm!
[/quote]

But this feller is ten cm long, and almost two cm thick.

[nomoss]

After a bit of research, I have decided it is a hornworm, the larval stage of a hawk or sphinx moth, Sphingidae.

According to Wiki there are some 1450 species. Colour of larvae is very variable, but many pictures I have found are very similar in size and colour.

It could be a hummingbird hawk moth larva, as there are lots of these in our garden, even now, when it is getting colder and wetter, but the colour doesn't quite match illustrations I have found.

 

[IMG]http://i857.photobucket.com/albums/ab131/nomoss/Posted%20on%20Forums/hawkmothcaterpillar.jpg[/IMG]

 

[IMG]http://i857.photobucket.com/albums/ab131/nomoss/Posted%20on%20Forums/hummingbirdhawkmoth.jpg[/IMG]

 

[Gardengirl]

[quote user="nomoss"]

[quote user="gardengirl "]I think it could be a leatherjacket - crane fly larvae can measure up to 5cm!

[/quote]

But this feller is ten cm long, and almost two cm thick.

[/quote]

That shows me I shouldn't try to look at pics without my specs!

That hummingmoth is lovely - didn't know about them before seeing that pic.

[andyh4]

Grow some lavendar.  They seem to love it.

I first saw one in the UK (Home counties) but only very rarely.  Very common in the Ardèche, so I guess Gard should have lots as well.

[Russethouse]

We had a hummingmoth in our garden, ( Thames Valley ) only saw it once though.....

[Gardengirl]

Well it seems I'm missing out! We're in the Gard and the Thames Valley, and I've never seen any!  [:(]

[basquesteve]

[quote user="nomoss"]

After a bit of research, I have decided it is a hornworm, the larval stage of a hawk or sphinx moth, Sphingidae.

According to Wiki there are some 1450 species. Colour of larvae is very variable, but many pictures I have found are very similar in size and colour.

It could be a hummingbird hawk moth larva, as there are lots of these in our garden, even now, when it is getting colder and wetter, but the colour doesn't quite match illustrations I have found.

 

[IMG]http://i857.photobucket.com/albums/ab131/nomoss/Posted%20on%20Forums/hawkmothcaterpillar.jpg[/IMG]

 

[IMG]http://i857.photobucket.com/albums/ab131/nomoss/Posted%20on%20Forums/hummingbirdhawkmoth.jpg[/IMG]

 

[/quote]

[basquesteve]

Can you give the source of your photographs you original picture is nothing like a Hawkmoth larvea the Hummingbird  Hawkmoths is green with a tail

[nomoss]

[quote user="basquesteve"]Can you give the source of your photographs you original picture is nothing like a Hawkmoth larvea the Hummingbird  Hawkmoths is green with a tail[/quote]

I Googled "huge brown caterpillar". It was one of the images which came up.

http://talkrational.org/showthread.php?t=39461  Post no.15

Then I Googles "hawk moth"- check the images and the Wiki entry which come up.

I think there is enough similarity among the few larvae illustrated out of many hundreds of species of hawk moth to suggest the one I saw is a hawk moth larva of some kind.

As there are so many hummingbird hawk moths in our garden, I thought there might perhaps be a variety with brown larvae, but I mainly posted it because it is so amazing to see.

Edit. My daughter photographed one of the hummingbird moths with her expensive camera, and we saw the wings are more transparent than the picture I posted.

[nomoss]

Seems like there are several hovering hawk moths in France. This link shows larva of the "Sphinx du liseron" which looks very similar to our visitor (who we moved from the concrete pad to a corner of the garden..

Also shown is a hovering moth with transparent wings, "Sphinx-Gazé", like the one my daughter photographed.

http://aramel.free.fr/INSECTES13terter.shtml

If I find another one on whatever it eats maybe I'll try raising it to see what it becomes.

[Rob Roy]

It's not an Elephant Hawkmoth is it? I found one some years ago:

 

[IMG]http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i312/Bouillaguet/2007_08290002.jpg[/IMG]