Larvae I.D. please

[jamesp]

Sabre52 ?? It bores into the base of cattail stems at root-to-stem transition totally killing them. Aquatic

[Deleted]

Size is helpful.

rockpickerforever

[Sabre52]

Man oh man James that's definitely a fly larva and those are always tough for me to ID. The pic most resembles a horse fly larva but those feed on snails and aquatic insects. Am not aware they are plant feeders. My best guess and just a guess now, would be that's the larva of one of the larger crane fly species ( Tipulids). They are known feeders on a lot of aquatic plants or plants growing in wet habitats. I have an Essig's Insects but it does not go east of the Rockies ( I used to live in Commiefornia of course). I'm thinking your larva is from one of the Giant Craneflies because their larvae love to eat aquatic monocots but again, my library does not include a good eastern US fly book so it's only a good guess.....Mel

[jamesp]

Jul 25, 2016 12:51:48 GMT -5 @shotgunner said:

Size is helpful.

rockpickerforever

Indeed. a full 2 inches.

[Pat]

Looks like an armored tank.

[jamesp]

Jul 25, 2016 16:33:24 GMT -5 Sabre52 said:

Man oh man James that's definitely a fly larva and those are always tough for me to ID. The pic most resembles a horse fly larva but those feed on snails and aquatic insects. Am not aware they are plant feeders. My best guess and just a guess now, would be that's the larva of one of the larger crane fly species ( Tipulids). They are known feeders on a lot of aquatic plants or plants growing in wet habitats. I have an Essig's Insects but it does not go east of the Rockies ( I used to live in Commiefornia of course). I'm thinking your larva is from one of the Giant Craneflies because their larvae love to eat aquatic monocots but again, my library does not include a good eastern US fly book so it's only a good guess.....Mel

Excellent and thanks Mel. That ID was a big big help. You nailed it.
The long larval stage is a big problem.
And in this case they are borers and next to impossible to treat with insecticide. As they bore below the water line and seal the hole for an airy underwater cavern.
Feeding away in complete cover as a borer does. Pesticide quickly diluted. I hate systemics, tried heavy Orthene applications and no go. Obnoxious poison that stuff.
Variegated Singapore cattails started getting them years ago an I was forced to abandon that crop. A great plant.
Now they have moved to a medium sized native cattail.
I will search for a treatment that fancys them, doubt it exists as this is one leathery larvae.

One of the few insects that can be placed on a fire ant mound and survive. By digging rapidly into the mound and shearing the ants off.
Guessing they will finally get him but they got a fight on their hands.

Would make superb fish bait; would take a piranha to tear him off the hook.

Yes, Giant Craneflies abound here. They also get in Peltandra Virginica, an aquatic arum.



"The crane fly resembles a mosquito.
The crane fly goes through a metamorphosis or changes body types during its lifecycle that lasts approximately one year. From the time the female lays her eggs until they reach adulthood, the fly changes from a larva to a pupa, then to an adult. Each cycle serves a specific purpose for growth and development of the crane fly.

Description
According to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, more than 1,500 species of crane flies have been identified in North America. Each type has unique characteristics. However, the adult mosquito-like fly generally has an elongated body up to 3 inches long, a pair of slender wings that spread up to 3 inches wide, and six long, skinny legs. Unlike the mosquito, the crane fly is harmless and does not bite.

Eggs and Larvae
The female crane fly generally lays her eggs in water, such as lakes or creeks, or in moist soil or on lawns during the spring. She may lay hundreds of eggs at a time, which generally hatch within 6 to 14 days. The first stage after hatching underwater or underground is the larval stage. The larva of the crane fly is shaped like a worm with both ends tapered. It has a tough outer skin covered with tiny hairs. During this larval stage the gray, brown- or cream-colored fly larvae feed off of leaves, roots and debris in the soil or water.

Pupae
The pupae form after the larvae have eaten for several months and molted, or lost and replaced their skin, four times. During this stage, the crane fly rests between one week and several months while under protective cover. Generally, during the spring, the pupae emerge as adult crane flies.

Adult
The main goal of the adult crane fly in the spring is mating. During the adult stage, the crane fly does not eat. For the short 10- to 15-day period, the adults mate on plants or in the air near the water. Afterwards, the female deposits her eggs. When mating and egg distribution is complete, female dies. The male only lives up to 15 days as well."

[jamesp]

Jul 25, 2016 17:36:48 GMT -5 Pat said:

Looks like an armored tank.

We should fry some up Pat. You get first taste...

[Pat]

Around here, we call crane flies GAL NIPPERS. don't ask me why. Never been bitten.

[jamesp]

A mini video over a 1.2 second period w/camera taking sequential action photos.
Ants attacking and larvae doing a gator roll.

Open link and click thru photos quickly to get vintage video effect

www.flickr.com/photos/67205364@N06/27901585293/in/album-72157670723689532/lightbox/

[jamesp]

Jul 25, 2016 17:47:20 GMT -5 Pat said:

Around here, we call crane flies GAL NIPPERS. don't ask me why. Never been bitten.

Seen that description on Wiki Pat:

Numerous other common names have been applied to the crane fly. Many of the names are more or less regional in the U.S., including mosquito hawk, mosquito eater, gallinipper, and gollywhopper.[19] They are also known as daddy-long-legs around the world,[3] not to be confused with daddy-long-legs that refers to arachnids of the order Opiliones or the family Pholcidae. The larvae of crane flies are known commonly as leatherjackets.[3]

Gollywhoppers ?? lol

[Pat]

Jul 25, 2016 17:45:45 GMT -5 jamesp said:

Jul 25, 2016 17:36:48 GMT -5 Pat said:

Looks like an armored tank.

We should fry some up Pat. You get first taste...

Ah, a little olive oil and garlic...., yum!

[jamesp]

Hard to imagine eating that one Pat.

[spiceman]

Not much on bugs or larva or anything like that but it would look best ....
On the bottom of my gym shoe.
After the water bug thing, holly cow. It's a gym shoe bug.

[rockpickerforever]

Jul 25, 2016 12:51:48 GMT -5 @shotgunner said:

Size is helpful.

rockpickerforever

It's not just helpful, it is a requirement!

Okay, so this thread is almost a month old.  I was away, then James was away.  To refresh your memory:

Larvae I.D. please

Had looked it up, here's what I found:

It is a horsefly larvae in the family Tabanidae.

Link to bug guide

From WIKI

Tabanus is a genus of biting horseflies of the family Tabanidae. Females have scissor-like mouthparts that aim to cut the skin. The horsefly can then lap up the blood.

Known to transmit blood-borne diseases, including equine infectious anaemia virus and anthrax.

Common names

Apart from the common name "horse-flies", broad categories of biting, bloodsucking Tabanidae are known by a large number of common names. The word "Tabanus" was first recorded by Pliny the Younger and has survived as the generic name. In general, country-folk did not distinguish between the various biting insects that irritated their cattle and called them all "gad-flies", from the word "gad" meaning a spike. The most common name is "cleg[g]", "gleg" or "clag", which comes from Old Norse and may have originated from the Vikings.[2] Other names such as "stouts" refer to the wide bodies of the insects and "dun-flies" to their sombre colouring. Chrysops species are known as "deer-flies", perhaps because of their abundance on moorland where deer roam,[2] and "buffalo-flies", "moose-flies" and "elephant-flies" emanate from other parts of the world where these animals are found.[3] In North America they are known as "breeze-flies",[4] and in Australia, some are known as "March flies",[5] a name used in other Anglophonic countries to refer to the non-bloodsucking Bibionidae.[6]

Horse-flies (genus Tabanus) are larger, up to 25 mm (1 in) in length and are mostly dark brown or black, with dark eyes, often with a metallic sheen. Yellow flies (genus Diachlorus) are similar in shape to deer flies but have yellowish bodies and the eyes are purplish-black with a green sheen.[8] Some species in the subfamily Pangoniinae have an exceptionally long proboscis (tubular mouthpart).[3]

The larvae are long and cylindrical with small heads and twelve body segments. They have rings of tubercles (warty outgrowths) known as pseudopods around the segments, and also bands of short setae (bristles). The posterior tip of each larva has a breathing siphon and a bulbous area known as Graber's organ. The outlines of the adult insect's head and wings are visible through the pupa, which has seven movable abdominal segments, all except the front one of which bears a band of setae. The posterior end of the pupa bears a group of spine-like tubercles.[9]

READ MORE

Both WIKI and Bug Guide invaluable! Great resources.

Horse flies larger than deer flies. 7 to 10 mm while horse flies are from 10 to 25 mm.

Jul 25, 2016 11:17:02 GMT -5 jamesp said:

It bores into the base of cattail stems at root-to-stem transition totally killing them. Aquatic

Jul 25, 2016 16:33:24 GMT -5 Sabre52 said:

Man oh man James that's definitely a fly larva and those are always tough for me to ID. The pic most resembles a horse fly larva but those feed on snails and aquatic insects. Am not aware they are plant feeders.

jamesp andf Mel Sabre52 you are both right!  They do eat snails and aquatic insects, but bore into the cattail stems to hide out.  Damaging (or, "totally killing them") is incidental.  They don't eat them.

More info as to species found in GA: bugguide.net/node/view/82093

My best guess, could be either one of these, both found in GA:

Tabanus imitans Google Images

tabanus fuscopunctatus Google images

Let me know if you've seen or been et by either of these!

My work here is done, lol...

[jamesp]

Well well, Jean. Quite an overview of our loving horseflies that have a remarkable talent of attaching themselves to the center of your back and drilling a hole in you.
Ever had to lay down on your back to ward those instruments of pain off ?

Thanks for the info. Thankfully they are not a real problem here.
Kept trying to get a photo of a big fat black one down in Florida but he was too shy. Pushing 1.2 1.3 inches.

Never knew they cut and them lick. Always wondered what their proboscis looked like, come to find it is a cutting action.

rockpickerforever, I experimented with varios insecticides on some of these larvae that I collected by hand.
They are resilient to a great extreme. You have to paint it on them to kill them.

Horse hide is thick, pretty sure they can draw from a horse, telling.

by the way, it took a long time for fire ants to submit this thing. Their sting is very effective, not so fast on this critter.

[Mark K]

JEAN FOR PRESIDENT!!!!!

[jamesp]

GOT MY VOTE !!!!

[Sabre52]

Yeah, horsefly was my first guess too, but after having gone through a whole bunch of pics of Tipulid ( leatherjacket) stages and seeing how much diversity there is ( even in different larval stages) I was tending to lean toward Tipulidae because, without a closeup of the feeding end extended and under my dissecting scope, I came to the conclusion that there were pretty much dead ringers picturewise in both groups. Many tipulids have that same exact morphology, including the rings and bumps, when in the leatherjacket stage. Seems to come down to the fine details of mouth parts and to me, fly larvae are always a tough call....Mel

[rockpickerforever]

Aug 23, 2016 14:32:26 GMT -5 Mark K said:

JEAN FOR PRESIDENT!!!!!

Uh, no thank you.  Actually, a RESOUNDING no thank you.

[Deleted]

Aug 23, 2016 16:28:33 GMT -5 rockpickerforever said:

Aug 23, 2016 14:32:26 GMT -5 Mark K said:

JEAN FOR PRESIDENT!!!!!

Uh, no thank you.  Actually, a RESOUNDING no thank you.

Why do you wanna make Jean age faster than nature intended? Let her continue on the path of fine wine, please.

Jean, good call. No presidency!