Hi all, from time to time I find a tiny larva that looks in shape and in movement style exactly like syrphid fly larva, but is green.
It has two tiny tiny tiny brownish points like a tail pointing straight up (like two super-short bristles attached together).
The body is smooth and bright green, not fuzzy.
No visible legs, and no visible head (the head area can look like a sharp tip or change to more rounded), just like the syrphid larva. It moves along the stem or leaf in the same exact way looking for something stretching its body from side to side and attaching with head or tail alternately, but is not interested in eating aphids (will walk right over them).
I see no damage on the plant caused by them (they don't seem to cut anything nor chew, just keep looking for something). I want to know what they are, what they are looking for, and whether they are beneficials or pests. I think the most common place I see them is my eggplant.
I have included 4 PICTURES. In one of them you can see the TAIL as two tiny tubes attached together. In another you can see HOW IT LIFTS ITS WHOLE BODY making the HEAD LIKE A SHARP TIP and bobbs around touching the leaf here and there to look for things, and has NO LEGS. You can see its SIZE compared to my finger tip and on a toothpick tip.
