I found this strange creature crawling solitarily in my garden. It has pincer like claws and was trying to dig into crevices while I was trying to capture it in my camera. I have a doubt if it's in a larval stage but don't know anything about insects really. What is this strange creature?
It's a grub. How big/long is it? What plant/crop was it close to?
Here is just one link to the whitegrubs of India:
http://www.ainpwhitegrubs.com/palampur.htm
This message was edited Aug 30, 2013 9:21 AM
It's about two inches long. Fat as a pencil.
It wasn't on any plant when I found it. It was just crawling in the soil in the open. I think it is one of the whitegrubs you pointed to. The pics look very similar.
It's a beetle larva or "grub". Not sure what species.... maybe a type of ground beetle. It's possibly a predator of other grubs, snails and slugs.
One of the more knowledgeable DGers can give you the correct species.
Oops! I just noticed that you're from India and don't know the beetles there. Sorry.
This message was edited Aug 30, 2013 9:33 AM
The 2 inch size helps. But grubs look a lot alike to most people.
Could be scarab beetle: Polyphylla decemlineata
Carrot beetle: Bothynyus gibbosus
Sugarcane beetle: Tomarus subtropicus
There are others as well.
Thanks for the info all. I will try to see if I can identify it and post its pic after it turns to the beetle. Chances are there are more of it. Will search in the garden soon.
As 2gardenkate said, it could become a predator, so don't be too quick to kill it.
Hope you can post a photo when it becomes an adult.
Yeah I will try to post its pic when it becomes an adult. I won't kill it anyway. Even if it is eats up plant roots, I'm sure with the variety of species in my area there will soon come a bird, insect or something that eats these beetles. I will wait and watch.
It is a larva of either a scarab beetle or a stag beetle (family Lucanidae); more likely the former. In either case it would not be a predator.
Thanks for the info. I think it could be scarab beetle because there are many such beetles in my garden already. I think I saw a lone larva that was disturbed out of its hiding place by accident.
