After a really hot day, we arrived home and went into the garden. I noticed something moving in the birdbath. It was wriggling around. It seems to be some kind of larvae. about 2.5 cm long including tail.
I have never seen anything like it….can anyone help?
Urghh what is it?
I fished it out of the water to see how it reacted but there seemed to be no major response, so I put it back. It acted just like a tadpole.
The larvae seemed to be totally at home in the water and when not swimming around they just hang upside down with the tail at the surface.
Strange Larvae Identified
Hahaha…I think I have solved the mystery of the strange Larvae. Its a Drone Fly Larvae known in North America as a Flower Fly.
http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/index.html?http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/pond/
http://www.usask.ca/biology/skabugs/flies/miscdip.html
Woo hoo! finally, the mystery is solved.
I found thse cool videos
That’s pretty weird! Never seen one of those before! Thanks for sharing it.
What u see there is called a Rat Tailed Larvae, The adult stage is a Drone Fly. They resemble a bee but have only one set of wings. The lavae u seen are aquatic and like somewhat dirty water. They are harmless but have been a few rare cases of entericpseudomyiasis(Intestinal infestation by fly larvae)
What u see is called a Rat Tailed Maggot,the adult stage is called a drone fly which looks closly like a bee. They are aquatic larvae and usually stay in groups. They are almost totally harmless except for a few rare cases of entericpseudomyiasis(intestinal infestation by fly larvae. I actually have had some in my garbage near the bottom in real dirty water. That is a good catch though
nearly 2 years on and peopel are still commenting on this…further on in the blog I have identified the larvae. thanks though to all who asked anout it or contributed an answer.drone FLy larvae…known as rat tailed maggott
of all the things to find when we take kids pond dipping these are the most gross. They are classically found in small garden ponds and bird baths that don’t get cleaned out because they are pretty good survivors of very low quality water. The better the quality the less likely you are to find them as there is too much competition from other creatures. I am not a fan but their survival techniques are pretty cool as with most other water minibeasts!