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Asparagus fern in a suburban yard
Spotted on Jun 18, 2015
Submitted on Jul 3, 2015
5 Comments
Never would have guessed that was a fern, but I'm useless at botany :) Still suspect that they could be some sort of sawfly, but maybe not Diprionidae in that case... not sure if they feed on ferns.
Here's what sawfly cocoons look like before the adults emerge (in this case it is a Diprionidae sawfly):
http://bugguide.net/node/view/486349
Hannah, I updated my info. I found these on an Asparagus fern, not a tree. I don't know if that helps with ID
I could be wrong, but those look a lot like sawfly cocoons. During my undergrad, I had to sort through a lot of them to identify males and females (female cocoons are larger), and they had the exact same shape and texture, with the same round opening at one end where the adult emerged, and a similar shade of brown (some were darker, but I remember light brown cocoons as well). I don't remember them being bunched up together in the open like this, but ours were lab-raised, and there's probably variation between species.
The ones I worked with were pine sawflies (Diprion pini), a European species, but try and see which Diprionidae species are in your area: I think they all feed on conifers. Try to ID the tree too if you can... I'm useless at botany, so I can't help there, but it might help narrow down which species they might be.
I wasn't sure so I thought it best to leave it off unless invited
Would this be appropriate for the Architecture Mission ? Cool Pictures!