Anyone know what this is?

I found it on my papaya leaf. It's about 4 inches long, and about as wide as a paper towel tube. It looks like spun silk, and is real soft.
I will show you 3 different pictures of it.

~Lucy

I didn't see anything in it, and you can see all the way though it.

Here's a side view. It has these lil things on the end of it.

Here is one more picture.

I've seen those on my papayas too, and wondered what they were. Cottonball fairy leaving soft beds for the butterflies?
Great pics. I hope someone will know what they are.
Cathy

Maybe that's a clue, Cathy. If you had one, and I have one, and both were on papayas.
Hmmmm...

Over the years I have seen a few, always on the back of a papaya leaf, always empty. I've tried searching the web using key words like cocoon, white, fluffy, hollow, etc. but have never found a pic or info about it. I nearly fell over when I saw your pictures!

If you look closely at the pictures it looks like there are insect eggs in it. Kind of oblong white ones. It is clearest to me in the second pic.

I'll alert kennedyh to this thread, he should have an idea.

i typed in.....papaya tree with cotton like substance on leaves... into search engine. there are quite a few articles, it might be mealy bugs

Thanks all, for trying to help. It's the weirdest thing I have found lately. : ) I'll keep watching it, and see if it changes any.

~Lucy

Lucy, I was showing a friend the DG site last night and remembered to ask him about the unidentified cocoon-thing. Showed him your pics and he also has seen them, only on papayas. I actually scoured all my papaya plants last night, looking for another one here, but none right now.
You get the prize for the mystery insect!
Cathy

This message was edited Nov 12, 2007 9:15 AM

Blue, try putting it on the Bug ID forum.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/f/bugid/all/

Ken D-mailed me, and you have him stumped too. I'd try the i.d forum and if that fails maybe the Tropical forum, being that this was on a papaya tree.

What about the Papaya Webworm? Could that be the culprit?

Carol

Carol.. I don't think so. I found this about the papaya webworm.

(Homolapalpia dalera), the worms produce a web
around the fruit and stem and feed on the tissue
under the web.
Thanks for trying tho. : )

Everyone....Can I just link this over at the I.D. and Tropical forums to come here, or do I need to transfer all the pictures and everything? (Pictures take a long time for my computer, sometimes.)

Thanks everyone for helping. : )
~Lucy



This message was edited Nov 9, 2007 11:07 AM

I'd link to this thread. That way, things don't have to be explained each time you post.

Thanks melody, it's linked in the other 2 forums now. : )

I just went and looked at the 'thing' and it hasn't changed any, but now there is another one on the other side of the tree. It has something brown hanging out of it. It looks something like a bug. Either coming out, or being drug in. I can't tell.

My camera batteries are on charge, so as soon as they get ready, I will take more pictures.
~Lucy

That looks very much like a gall. This is a link to a wool sower gall, which is formed on an oak tree branch or twig when a tiny wasp lays an egg. The soft fluffy stuff is formed by the oak tree, in reaction to the egg, and the larvae live within it, protected, until they exit as adults. It starts out white, and colors as it ages - a reaction to the larvae, I believe. http://www.flickr.com/photos/anitagould/179507653/ This particular insect is plant specific, so these particular galls would not appear on papayas. I don't know of any galls on papayas, personally, but I am not all that familiar with papayas either. But many species of plants are affected by galls; perhaps even papayas.
I'm eager to see your new photos.....

This message was edited Nov 10, 2007 11:34 PM

Lucy, can you call your local extension service office? If you call them I bet they will give you their E-Mail to send a pic.
I have a small papaya and a friend of mine in town has several big ones, nothing of this sort has appeared yet, but I am very interested to know what it is too!

This morning, my coworker who has also seen these strange fluffy things, found one on the ground, under his papayas at home. We had talked about them last week, I showed him these pictures, and he was kind enough to pick it up and bring it to me. It's in a glass jar, I will take a pic when I go home.
After searching alll over the internet, my best guess is that they are parasitic wasp cocoons that a momma wasp couldn't find a host caterpillar for. Maybe she, or a group of them, make a communal cocoon??? Who knows...
Shellabella, I like the idea about the Coop Ext. I think they have a mobile unit here at the library one day a week, must check that out.
Cathy

This message was edited Nov 12, 2007 6:53 PM

Here is the fluffy cocoon, it is as light as air! It looks like an albino watermelon, with a slice taken out, where it was attached to the leaf.
I put it back in the glass jar, out on the lanai, will keep an eye on it.

ceejay, I can definitely see the similiarities in the third pic on that website. Will continue searching on my end and try to find a Coop X person here in Venice.
Thanks, Cathy

Shell, I don't even know if our small town even has a local extension service office. I will check.

Now I have 3 of those things on my papaya. They just show up out of no where. lol I check out there about 3 times a day.

Also, I have 2 caterpillars eating a couple of leaves that I don't know what they are either.
They are not close to the cocoon looking things, and I don't think they have anything to do with them. But, I don't know that for a fact. I need to find out what they are also.

Here is a picture of what they look like. The cat has a lil horn thingy on him, also. And then, I will show you the picture of one of the cocoon things with what looks like a piece of dead bug hanging halfway out of it.

A little tiny spider has made a home in one of the cocoons. He's about as big as a knat. lol : )
~Lucy

Whatever it is hanging part way out is dead, whatever it is. I might try to pull it out tomorrow and take a closer look.

Lucy, I just sent an email (with a link to this thread with your wonderful pictures) to a Coop X entomologist in Sarasota County, maybe he can solve the mystery!
Cathy

Thanks Cathy : )
Maybe someone there will know. Will he or she be able to access this forum without being a member? I know some forums, if you aren't a member, you can only read the first post or so...I think.
~Lucy

Mmmmm, I don't know. I only joined DG a couple months ago and I'm still figuring things out! If all else fails, there's a mobile unit that comes to Venice on Thursday. I'm aiming to bring the "suspect" to the Jacaranda library after lunch on my way back to work. The mobile unit is there for 2 hours I think. Maybe someone there will recognize it or can bring it back to the central office. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
Cathy

That sounds good, also. Thanks alot for helping id whatever it is.
I'll keep an eye on them to see if they change or anything. So far, they are 'just there'. : )
~Lucy

You click on the tab "Communities" and that takes you to http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/.
The asterisk by the name of the forum means that it is available to subscribing members only. So he/she won't be able to view this thread....

Doh! I will send him another email and attach one of the pictures I took today. Where's there's a will...

You can use my pictures if you want to.
~Lucy

Thanks Lucy!
I wasn't sure about using anything posted here so I just attached one of the clear ones I took earlier. Hopefully I'll get an email tomorrow!
I'll keep you posted.
Cathy

Be sure to send the one with the seed looking things in it....

Becky!
Here is the reply I just got from Fred Santana, entomologist with Sarasota County:

Cathy,

Your mystery thing is a communal cocoon of a tiny braconid wasp that parasitizes caterpillars. The caterpillar becomes infested with numerous wasp larvae. When larvae mature and emerging from the caterpillar, the begin spinning a wool like jackets around the caterpillar in which they have been living. You can see the individual wasp cocoons embedded in the wool like covering. In some related species of braconids, the emerging wasps simply pupate without spinning any wool like covering. The caterpillar looks like it has tiny, white, cigar shaped structures stuck all over it.

If you have any questions , give me a call at 861-9849.

Fred

Fred Santana
Entomologist


Ugh!
Maybe that caterpillar you saw is the type they feed on....
The area code for Sarasota County is 941 if anyone wants more info from Mr. Santana.
Cathy

Wow! How interesting....at least it's not an attack of tiny pod people...lol!

We'd love the proper name of the wasp, and it's host if he'd be so kind. It would make a super BugFiles entry.

I will call him tomorrow!
I tried searching through all the braconid wasp info on the web, but all I could find was several references to some types of parasitic wasps that make "an external cocoon."
Maybe he can give more info. I plan to stop on Thurs at the mobile unit and see what they can tell me too.

I have some more pictures. The thing that was partly hanging out of the cocoon was one of those long green caterpillars...all dried up. (like the one above, that I still haven't id'd.

Cathy...make sure when you go by the mobile that you tell them that these are not small cocoons. Mine are about 3 inches long and 1 3/4 wide.

It does seem to be some kind of wasp that does this...but I'm not sure, (just yet), that it is the braconid wasp.
Thanks for helping, Cathy.
~Lucy