What's this bug?
- Thread starter TallTom
- Start date
Larval form of a crane fly,(I'm pretty sure of this) Known round my way as 'leather jackets', my mum used to feed them to her pet crow. 
Most ugly little guys, but essential to the cycle of spring and summer ickyness.
Most ugly little guys, but essential to the cycle of spring and summer ickyness.
That looks awfully like the buggits that I found inside the Oca tubers last Winter….I took photos, I'll find the link, but the opinion was that it was an overwintering swiftmoth larvae, iirc.
M
M
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http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=127783
Does anything on this thread look like your maggot thing ?
M
Does anything on this thread look like your maggot thing ?
M
I'd go for a cranefly larva. They take up residence in my big flower pots and eat the roots of the plants.
just looked up Stag Beetle larvae to satisfy my own curiosity and I am pretty sure that is what it is, though something to give scale would help.
DB
DB
Leatherjackets are darker than that and don't have the brown chitinous face armour this thing has.
I dont know what they are, but i worked in a woodyard in Spain, chopping firewood with a hydraulic splitter, used to get loads of em in the Oak.....ugly sods, but stick one on a hook n Trout go MENTAL for em!
It is a beetle larva. It has a distinct head capsule, which fly larvae lack, which rules out leatherjackets.
Impossible to identify beetle larvae to species.
Impossible to identify beetle larvae to species.
Looks like that to me too.
This is a stage beetle larva I photographed
Stag Beetle Larva by British Red, on FlickrI wouldn't expect to find crane fly larvae in a log - they are normally found in soil.
ETA
Beaten to it by a real expert !
Looks like that to me too.
This is a stage beetle larva I photographed
I wouldn't expect to find crane fly larvae in a log - they are normally found in soil.
ETA
Beaten to it by a real expert !
Hardly. You are spot on, and the point about leatherjackets in soil is good too.
Nope not that one I'm afraid
Looks like that to me too.
This is a stage beetle larva I photographed
I wouldn't expect to find crane fly larvae in a log - they are normally found in soil.
ETA
Beaten to it by a real expert !
Yea definitely a stag beetle larve then, nice info about the head armour too.
Thanks everyone for your replies, it's great to have so many different sources of information and experience to draw upon to better my own knowledge.
T
