Insect id please.

[Suzanne B]

I found this when we were digging over our allotment this weekend so I'm not sure whether it was under the ground or hiding in the edging.
It was about 8mm -10mm approx.







Any ideas?
Thanks

[Pudding4brains]

Ahw, duh ... I just added a comment with the first image

Hi Suzanne, you probably dug it up. It's a puppa of some insect, probably Beetle, maybe Hymenoptera or something else yet. An image of the 'underside' (legs/snout) may give more clues (although I'm generally clueless with such pupae). As it won't need food anymore you may well put it in some moist, not wet, soil in jar with a perforated lid or covered with cloth/gauze. Provide a stick or some other surface to climb onto while pumping up the wings after hatching. Keep moist, not wet, and wait to see what comes out. Should be interesting Cheers, Arp

[goosey]

Originally Posted by Pudding4brains

Hi Suzanne, you probably dug it up. It's a puppa of some insect, probably Beetle, maybe Hymenoptera or something else yet. Cheers, Arp

It looks hairy, do beetle larvae have hair?
Rather interesting .

[chris butterworth]

Its def. a Beetle pupae but, for the life of me, I can't get it down to genus .
It's not a Staphalinid, Click Beetle or Chafer but it may be one of the larger Leaf Beetles.

Chris

[Suzanne B]

Thank you for your help Arp, Chris and goosey, you have narrowed it down for me as I had no idea at all what it was.

I did find one more photo of the underside if that helps any.



Unfortunately I didn't think to put it somewhere safe where I could keep and eye on it so when I went back up today naturally I couldn't find it. Next time I will definately look after it and see what it turns into. I really could kick myself.

Thanks.
Suzanne.

[paul m]

My first thought was the nymph of a hopper (Homoptera) of some sort. I'm even more inclined to that now that the legs are visible which, surely, they would not be on a beetle pupa? A lot of leafhoppers (and relatives) have nymphs which are subterranean - feeding from plant roots.

[Pudding4brains]

Howdy,

Originally Posted by paul m

... the legs are visible which, surely, they would not be on a beetle pupa?

That, or the extend to which the legs are visible, would depend on the family involved I suppose. On the pupae of ladybirds the legs are clearly visible, as I'm sure you're aware, even if small and hidden under the body.

I'm not really familiar with the pupae of all Weevils and as the larvae of some of those have no legs virtually, the pupae may possibly be missing in the leg dept. too. The few pupae that I do know did have legs however.

Anyway, here is a Chrysomelid pupa, also with (short) legs:


The pupa shown by Suzanne has longer legs, so I would be some animal that has longer legs as an adult/imago. Frankly however, I'm having trouble identifying what are legs and what are the antennae, but it may be something longhorn-ish shaped, even if not a longhorn proper I suppose (if beetle at all?).

Images of the pupae of Pyrochroidae can be found on this page, images of a Lampyrid pupa here (both with legs, but held differently)

The only reason I'm a bit reluctant to fix it on being a beetle, is that many other groups have similar pupae too, such as this Scorpionfly:

Of course, Suzanne's is no Panorpa, but I just don't know the pupae of all orders well enough. At least some Wasps/Bees have very similar pupae too, even if I have no images available.

The question ofcourse is not only which look similar, but also which one you would be likely to digg up in a lawn

As for the Homoptera, I would be inclined to rule that out. This animal seems to be clearly in some immobile phase and Homoptera don't pupate - the nymphs keep moving/digging around. I'll see if I can find my images of a Cicada-exuvia later.

Cheers, Arp

P.S. The pupae of Cincidela seem to look superficially similar, but have a spined back (link, link).

[Pudding4brains]

Ahw, duh

Originally Posted by Pudding4brains

I'll see if I can find my images of a Cicada-exuvia later.

The images I could easily digg up are quite unsharp:

and I didn't notice until after uploading that Black had already oploaded a better image long ago:


As for the smaller (whatever)hoppers, there are some mages in this key:
Zenner, Gudrun; Stöckmann, Marlies, Niedringhaus, Rolf (2005) Preliminary key to the nymphs of the families and subfamilies of the German Auchenorrhyncha fauna. (PDF, 7MB)

Cheers, Arp