Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with larvae

Name That Larvae

crapmatic — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 11:18:59 -0800

Are these mosquito larvae or something else? I found these guys in an inch of standing water in a hot tub that had been closed up over the summer: 1 2 3 4. This is in Oklahoma. The closest match I can find is mosquito larvae but they're kind of big (5/8 to 3/4"), so much so that I thought they were tadpoles when I first saw them. Also I haven't seen them attach theirselves to the water surface like lots of mosquito larvae pics suggest. If they're beneficial I'd like to save them, but if they're mosquitoes, I guess I'll have to make them a reservation at the roach motel.

What is this disturbing large larvae in the pond outside?

internet!Hannah — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 22:34:40 -0800

What is this strange larvae in the puddle outside my dorm? So there's this large puddle outside my dorm by the bike racks that's usually there the majority of the semester, due to the amount of rain we get. Think small vernal pool. Usually it's home to mosquito larvae, mass concentrations of toad tadpoles (excellent for pranking dormmates with fishtanks--last year we convinced one guy his guppies had had ugly babies, and he didn't figure it out until they spouted legs) and waterbugs. However, this year there's something strange living in there that I don't recognize.

From above, they look very much like minnows, a good inch long and that grey color, which is what made me notice them, as I was trying to figure out how fish would get into a temporary pond. However, on close inspection they are typical larvae shape, no fins, and instead of a head they have sort of a weird short tentacle-y mouthpart, almost cthulu-esque. A bit freaky, really, which is why I didn't pull one out for a picture or closer inspection. They swim sort of like minnows would, though, and not with the jerky movements that mosquito larvae have.

So, any ideas what the hell has moved in by the dorm? Some sort of leech thing? Strange water-beetle larvae? Elder-god grandchildren? Swine flu? This is central Texas, and having grown up a tomboy, I'm familiar with most pond-life, but this one is a new one to me. Any help is appreciated, googling variants of "puddle" and "larvae" bring up only endless pages on mosquitoes.

What is this worm inside a flat shell?

crabintheocean — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 23:47:27 -0800

Google isn't helping me find out what this bug is, mostly because I don't know what on earth to search for! Found in LA, it's a half inch flat greenish grey thing that seems to be a casing or pod, with a tiny red and black worm poking out the end and pulling it along... This bug just showed up on the inside of some white curtains in Los Angeles. It was hanging by the worm part and pulling itself up. The worm section can retreat all the way inside the shell. The shell is very flat, slightly iridescent, and has a tiny hole at both ends.

Here's a video of it doing its thing across a paper towel. The color is off, it's a greenish grey with a black worm with a red head.

Can anyone help me ID? I have it in a jar now, so I can answer questions. What is it, and what is it going to turn into? Is it some kind of larval or pupal stage...

What are these bugs on my onions?

tomatofruit — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 21:55:24 -0800

How do I deal with these icky bugs on my (store-bought) onions? For the last few months, I've been noticing that by the time I get to the last onion or two in the bag, the outer layer of the onion--the first layer of flesh beneath the peel--is teeming with very tiny (about 1mm long) white larvae.

Since I can barely see them, I can't tell for certain what they are, but I'm suspecting they're fruit flies. The size is right, and fruit flies are non-burrowing, which would explain why I never find them below the outer layer of the onion. I haven't seen an adult fruit fly in the house since sometime last summer, so I would also assume the onions are coming from the store with the eggs on them. I've tried shopping at different stores, too--it seems to be a universal problem with onions I buy.

Okay, okay, so eating a few cooked bug eggs now and then won't kill me, but it still grosses me out. What I'm doing now is peeling, rinsing, and chopping the entire bag of onions when I buy them, then keeping the chopped onions in baggies in the fridge until I use them. I'd much rather save myself all that extra work at the end of a grocery trip, though, and use the onions one at a time as I need them.

So, my questions would be:
1) Are all the onions I buy actually covered in fruit fly eggs (ugh!), or is this something else entirely?
1a) If yes...at the risk of turning myself off fresh fruits and veggies forever, is all store-bought produce infested?
2) Is there anything else I can do to de-maggot my onions?

When were insects eliminated from flour?

tnygard — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 12:51:46 -0800

Hi all, I am doing some writing on the history of baking, and I was wondering when flour became pure. We take for granted the fact that flour in our grocery stores is free from insect larvae, twigs, and other contaminants. I have heard that the purpose of sifting flour was once to get this stuff out. Now we sift for nostalgia's sake or possibly to make flour fluffy. I want to say that flour became pure with the advent of large flour millers in the 19th century like Wasburn-Crosby and Pillsbury (both now are part of General Mills). But that is just a guess. When did things really get cleaned up? Do any of you foodies and bakers know? Thanks!

Please Tell Me These Are Not Termites (I Don’t Want to Hear Carpenter Ants, Either)

dreamphone — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 11:35:30 -0800

Small pile of hundreds of insect/larvae carcasses found in home – should we be concerned? Have you ever encountered such a thing? A few weeks ago, we discovered a small pile (a couple of inches high, inch or two in diameter) of teensy, tiny little empty larvae (??) shells. The insect shells are so small that we couldn’t manage to photograph them with any amount of clarity – you could probably fit about 100-150 of them on a penny, for perspective. In fact, they were so small, that at first we thought they were a bit of insulation or something—only upon really, really close inspection were we able to discern the small, curled, dried-up, segmented bodies (or exoskeletons). This pile appeared in the corner of our kitchen, under our baseboard heat registers.

I’ve called a few exterminators, but they tell me that they can’t identify a bug from its dried-up shell.

My question is: Has anyone ever encountered this phenomenon in their apartment or home?

Some background:
- We live in Massachusetts.
- Our house is about 50 years old, not noticeably damp, with no apparent wood damage. The foundation is very visible, and we see no termite “tunnels” up the foundation.
- We’ve lived in this house for only 1 year, so we don’t have any idea if this has happened before.
- Although I vacuum the floors once weekly, it’s possible that this little pile has been accumulating for some time. Although they are tiny and light, just sticking the vacuum hose under the heat register didn’t get rid of them all – I had to manually sweep them all out.

Your rug shouldn't crawl. Ever heard of maggots hatching out of a rug?

lottie — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 22:37:27 -0800

IKEA Rag Rug nastiness: Has this happened to anyone you know? (Somewhat gross explanation ahead) (Warning: Grossness ahead.)
A couple of years ago, a very strange home furnishing-related thing happened to me and I've always wondered if it affected anyone else. I know it kind of sounds like an urban myth, but it absolutely happened to me.

I lived with a flatmate in Los Angeles at the time and we were having breakfast one sunday morning when we looked down and noticed a lot of large white maggots, or larvae of some kind, crawling over the floor. Keepers of a very clean home, we were horrified by this, and quickly moved everything out of the kitchen and swept and mopped before noticing that they were back again. Three or four times we swept them up, covering the floor in hot, bleachy water, only for them to return, seemingly from nowhere. We checked the drains and under the fridge and all cupboards, but couldn't figure out the source, and we both started to come unhinged. The maggots were the size of small dried beans, white and rubbery when we tried to crush them with the mop-head.

It was only later on in the morning when, giving up, we started moving some of the things which had been in the kitchen that we picked up an IKEA rag rug that had been on the floor, and literally dozens of these maggot things fell out of it. We remembered then that we had the same rug in the bathroom, and sure enough - a shower of them fell out when we picked it up. The floor was absolutely crawling with maggots.

Now neither of these rugs were very old, nor were they dirty. We'd actually bought them because we knew we could launder them frequently. We paid about $2 for them, and so getting our money back wasn't really an issue, it was more "What the heck?!". I called and complained, and (surprisingly) customer service kind of went "Meh. These things happen. They were hand loomed in India." (like that somehow explains it) and they offerded us a refund, which we turned down - it was just a really small amount and we really didn't care. I was more interested in letting them know that their rugs seem to be hatching, and sparing anyone else the anguish of having their homes crawling with larvae. I actually thought they would have been more alarmed, or have heard of this happening before. No big deal.

I can only guess that they were some kind of egg that was woven into the rug and the right conditions of moisture and heat had them hatching in our kitchen and bathroom. Would really like to know if this is a common sort of thing with these rugs. Anyway, has anyone else ever experienced this? Any idea what they were?

What kind of bug is this?

me3dia — Sun, 02 May 2004 14:22:37 -0800

Garden bug question: What are these things (photographs inside; NSFPeople who don't like creepycrawlies)? I dug up at least a dozen of them while tilling my backyard garden.
It's obviously the larval state of some insect, but which insect, and should I be concerned?