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Project Noah Nature School
Uraba lugens
Pretty small, around 1.5cm long. They were on both sides of the Eucalyptus leaf, very neatly arranged.
On Eucalyptus tree, Australia
When I got closer they all lifted their tails, a bit creepy.
These sawfly larvae are labelled incorrectly. Gum Leaf Skeletonizer caterpillars are hairy and different to these grubs as can be easily checked in the Uraba link. Donald Hobern is correct.
These aren't caterpillars. They're sawfly larvae. The caterpillar of the gum-leaf skeletoniser is very distinctive. See the images in the Gallery tab here:
http://bie.ala.org.au/species/Uraba%20lu...
They are hairy and have a stack of old head capsules from their younger stages.
I don't know the species but these clusters of larvae like the ones in your image are from some species in the family Pergidae - see
http://bie.ala.org.au/species/Pergidae
Thanks Lori! It is a rather common looking moth... I thought I was onto something more exciting.
Thanks Joe! I'd really like to know what they are and what they will become :)
I'll check on them tomorrow to see if they've changed size/appearance at all and kept the same neat formation.
That is odd to see them lined up like that. I don't know if we have whatever that is in California, but i will have to check the Eucalyptus trees in my yard.
Spotted on Apr 23, 2011
Submitted on Apr 23, 2011
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