I noticed what appeared to be this little bundle to twigs moving in my garden. When I picked it up and looked at it, I could see a hole at the end closing up. I put it down and waited and sure enough after a while a larva poked its head out and started moving again. You can just make out it's striped body. I have found these twiggy things attached to various plant leaves and was wondering if anybody can id them.
This is what it looked like with the hole closed up
Here is a smaller one attached to a hosta leaf
This is a case-bearing caterpillar in the family Psychidae, possibly a Psyche sp. - see http://tinyurl.com/248elda for an example. These particular caterpillars do not appear to do much damage, but their larger cousin, the common bagworm (Thyridopteryx ephemeraeformis), can be a very serious pest, especially on ornamental conifers such as arborvitae.
