I went searching for bagworms this morning in N. Dean woods and by Jimminey I actually found one!!!!!!!!!
I thought it would be just another Dahlica lichenella but the case was much larger at 8.5mm and not plain like all the others but adorned with plant and insect fragments around the oral half. Even better was the fact that the case contained a dead and shrivelled female (for dissection) plus dozens of eggs which hatched about an hour later (for rearing).
I'm leaning towards Dahlica triquetrella at the moment but can't research much without a PC.
I've sent the screen grabs off to Harry.
Any thoughts most welcome.
4 comments:
Fingers crossed for Dahlica triquetrella that would be something else....picture of the head plate..looks good on UK moths....case at 8mm....
Fascinating Charlie.
What will you feed them on Charlie ? - or is that a bit of guess work ?
They will eat various lichens and algae but it's tricky to keep the food stuff healthy indoors. Also they need dead insects to complete their development. As they would need looking after for almost a year I've released them in to a wall in the garden. Hopefully next spring they will re-appear.
As soon as they hatched they made tiny little case out of the sand I provided for them.
No ID yet but I'll see if there are any more cases about with exuvia present.
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