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The Thing
yarrow2
Posts: 782
This is a very poor photograph which I apologise for but to be honest this thing is creeping me out a bit.
It's latched on to the underside of a geum leaf and this 'thing' is over 2" long. It's been there a week with no sign of emerging and the only identifying marks are two kind of dots on a leg-like looking bit - which even I can only make out if I zoom in.
Does anybody know what it is? I know the photo is pretty bad. It looks more of an armoured type beastie than something which is going to turn out pleasant!
2nd try
Last edited: 14 August 2017 00:31:26
0
Posts
How exciting! Why not snip off the leaf and bug, drop it in a screw top jar, and send us a picture of whatever comes out?
its the chrysalis of a moth or butterfly pupating Ito the adult form.
Popping a chrysalis into a jar often results in nothing more than a desiccated corpse as it's difficult to maintain the right level of humidity and without knowing the species we don't know whether the adult will emerge this year or next.
Nature is usually best left alone if at all possible as it usually knows best how its needs should be met.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I bow to your superior judgment,
Not superior
but the voice of experience ... when we were at the village primary school we used to put chrysalids in jars with a little damp soil and a stick, make holes in the lid and put them on a shelf and wait ... and wait .... and wait .... and then throw them out in the garden because they'd dried out and were just a hollow shell. 
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.