CLOSED: Please help identify bug

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gogreene Newark, CA Jun 03, 2018

Have found this on tomato and green bean leaves.

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Flapdoodle Minot, ND Jun 03, 2018

Possibly a cabbage looper starting to spin its cocoon. In spite of its name, this caterpillar will attack a wide variety of plants - https://cals.arizona.edu/maricopa/garden/html/t-tips/bugs/looper.htm

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gogreene Newark, CA Jun 04, 2018

Thanks for your response, Flapdoodle. The website you referred to says this:
"When parasitized by the wasp Copidosoma truncatellum, loopers curl into an "S" shape after spinning a cocoon and fail to pupate. Numerous beneficial small wasps will emerge from each parasitized looper."
From the picture, do you think the looper I found had been parasitized? If yes, I'm afraid I killed the beneficial wasps before they could emerge, since I got rid of the looper!

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Flapdoodle Minot, ND Jun 04, 2018

"From the picture, do you think the looper I found had been parasitized?"

Unfortunately, it's impossible to tell for certain at this point, as the characteristic "S shape" only occurs after the cocoon has been completed. Your specimen had just started to spin its cocoon.

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gogreene Newark, CA Jun 04, 2018

Any tips on how I should decide whether to get rid of loopers that have started to spin the cocoon? I wouldn't want to ruin any beneficial ways of controlling pests in a chemical free way.

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Flapdoodle Minot, ND Jun 04, 2018

About the only thing that I can suggest would be to try shining a light from below through the completed cocoon to see if you can tell whether it contains a pupa (destroy) or an S-shaped caterpillar (save).

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