This is the first time in the 3 years I've been growing lilies that I've seen this critter on my lilies. The first time was a couple of days ago as I was aphid hunting. I found it under a leaf, but I quickly brushed it off without snapping a picture. Today I was aphid hunting again and found it on a downward-facing lily on the petal.
Can anyone ID please? Thanks.
Is that a slug???
sure looks like one, to me. :-(
Sasha
No, it's not a slug. I live in a high rise...they'd never make it up this high. It is (or was) a caterpillar of some kind.
Is it very small? It could be a syrphid fly larva. They eat aphids. And they don't have any legs. Photo is not real clear....
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://woodypest.ifas.ufl.edu/images/slide32.jpg&imgrefurl=http://woodypest.ifas.ufl.edu/244.htm&h=300&w=400&sz=40&hl=en&start=3&um=1&tbnid=0tUxyw8Uzesi4M:&tbnh=93&tbnw=124&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dsyrphid%2Bfly%2Blarvae%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rls%3DHPIA,HPIA:2005-37,HPIA:en
This message was edited Jul 11, 2007 8:46 PM
That looks like it. Dang. I killed it thinking it was a bad bug. :(
Thank you ceejay.
Well, you'll know better next time.... You're very welcome.
BTW, I don't know which species you get there, but we have some that come in green, yellow, orangish, too. Just look for that body shape. No true legs, pointed at one end (the eating end).
You might look up what the adult syrphid fly looks like, so you don't take her out too. ;-) They are small flies (two wings) that usually tend to resemble bees or wasps with their yellow/black striping. They have large compound eyes, with very short antennae and they tend to hover over flowers (the adults eat nectar and pollen only) - which is why they are called hover flies. I don't know which adult is associated with the larva you had.
