what is this?

[DartfrogDan]

my bean weevil came in the post today and when i split of the cultures i noticed a wormy like thing,it is segmented,doesn't seem to have any legs and has a black claw like thing at the front that it seems to use to pull its self along.it around 1 cm long,just wondering what it was

[demon amphibians]

do you have pics? it would be easier for us to determine if we had a visual.

[DartfrogDan]

here you go,sorry about bad camera-man-ship

[tameyourself]

Looks like a pupa of some sort to me

[demon amphibians]

I get those in with crickets some times but i have no clue what they are.

[MatthewM1]

I'm pretty sure it's a Dermistid beetle larva, they are harmless, they feed on decomposing dead insects but won't bother live ones. Whenever I get one with my crickets I toss it in my dubia colony to help clean up

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[UncleChester]

Yep, it looks like dermestid beetle larva. Here's an old thread with a couple of pictures and lots of handy info: http://www.frogforum.net/food-feeder...-crickets.html (Also some reminiscing for me- I've learned a few things from this board in 3 and a half years)

[JeffreH]

I'm not so sure... it looks more like a fly larva to me. Dermestid beetle larvae typically have more distinct heads; this particular larva reminds me an awful lot of a soldier fly or something of the like with that protruding head.

[DartfrogDan]

thanks for all the replies, i was quite curious and its nice to know it was harmless

[UncleChester]

thanks for all the replies, i was quite curious and its nice to know it was harmless

For all matters insect related, in Jeff we trust. So be skeptical of the dermestid larva idea. Are clearer pictures possible?

[MatthewM1]

For all matters insect related, in Jeff we trust.

Agreed

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[DartfrogDan]

these are a little bit better

[MatthewM1]

Def not a dermestid

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[JeffreH]

Eruciform larvae in general can often be ambiguous; except Lepidopterans. I think this is a fly larva of some kind, but I don't claim to be an expert on Dipteran taxa... There are are some 200,000 species of fly and something like 400,000 species of beetle (and likely an equal number of hymenopterans). Might be difficult to tell exactly what larva this is =)

Either way, I'd say its harmless. Probably wouldn't feed it off not knowing exactly where its been or where it came from, but its not a problem being in the box.

[DartfrogDan]

thanks for the replies,its nice to know what it is in general,i wasn't going to risk feeding it off,better to be safe than sorry