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ID for strange pest
soulboy
Posts: 429
I was in the garden yesterday evening and discovered a very thin, bright green worm-like creature that was climbing onto a dahlia leaf from the bamboo stake next to it.
It was about the width of a strand of hair, perhaps a little thinner, and about 6-8cm long. Could it be some kind of leaf miner? Sorry I didn't take a picture of it.
0
Posts
Possibly a horsehair worm, a parasite of insects.
Thanks Alan, I think you've put me on the tight track and I think it must be a nematode of some kind. I looked up horsehair worm and that seems to live mainly in aquatic environments, although wikipedia doesn't state they do so exclusively.
As there are over 25,000 nematode species I'm never going to successfully identify it but at least I know now that it's not feeding on my plants and may even be preying on those creatures that do.