I hope I'm posting this on the right forum. Lots of smart people on here. My Passiflora 'Lavender Lady' is currently covered in Gulf Fritillary caterpillars which is great. I noticed one yesterday that looked like it was leftover molted skin. I had seen a caterpillar in that same spot the day before so it made sense. On closer inspection, I noticed it was not the molted skin, but that the caterpillar was indeed dead. And there was an odd, white egg-shaped thing attached to the same leaf right in front of the corpse. Not wanting anything to proliferate and kill more caterpillars, I picked the leaf, threw it on the ground, and stepped on it. I looked, and there were some little black specks in the "egg", but nothing I could identify as being a bug or anything. So...does this look familiar to anyone?

It's likely to be a parasitic wasp which laid it's eggs in the caterpillar. Once they have eaten out the inside of the caterpillar they eat their way out, spin themselves into cocoons in a mass cocoon.

There's a video on the following link which shows what happens, this also happens to the 7-spot Ladybird where the larvae spin a cocoon beneath the beetle after cutting nerves to the legs so they can't move. The host stays alive until it starves to death, I have seen a live 7-spot with the parasite underneath it, creepy!

http://mygarden.rhs.org.uk/blo...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

http://bugguide.net/node/view/...

You can see the wounds on the caterpillar, although the cocoon looks more like a single parasite than several together it does appear to have come from the caterpillar. Tachinid flies are another possibility.

https://www.google.co.uk/searc...

Similar cocoons ..

http://www.butterfly-fun-facts...

http://www.butterfly-fun-facts...

https://www.google.co.uk/searc...

@JRsbugs
Thank you. I'm so glad to see you're still helping us with your knowledge and experience with insects. We'd be lost without you!

Yes, thanks Janet! It's awesome knowing you are around to help! I've been raising butterflies nine years now, and I've had the parasitic wasps that emerge singly from the chrysalis of the butterfly, I've seen the Tachinid Flies and their "fluff" but only in the wild. I suppose I'm lucky that this is my first run in with this parasite. And I suppose the mass quantities of Gulf Fritillaries I have right now probably attract too much attention from predators. This is good info to know for the future. And I'm totally glad I stepped on it! They can go parasitize someone else's caterpillars!

Karen, it's in my blood, I couldn't possibly abandon you all!

Melanie, I think I would have squashed it too! About the only thing I will squash is the Red Lily Beetle, which is an invader here in the last few years.

It was a horrible thing to see a 7-spot Ladybird moving it's head slightly, with a parasite under it. I knew there was nothing I could do, and I didn't want to kill the beetle even though it's days were numbered. Survival of the species may be essential but I wish they would do it out of my sight.

Thanks for

I couldn't agree more! I am endlessly grateful that you are sticking around Janet. You offer soooo very much to us.

[quote="JRsbugs"]Karen, it's in my blood, I couldn't possibly abandon you all!
We all appreciate your help here!