Sunday, July 28, 2013

Can You Identify The Tidy Egg Layer?

It is a mystery to my husband and I.

Hubby was splitting firewood ( poplar) last week and discovered something which he has never come across before. And he has split a lot of wood in his years.

When he halved a log, it separated neatly along a channel bored into the wood. Inside, he found a tidy row of little green packages about 2cm (an inch) in length . The packets were formed with leaves that lined the channel . Each leaf was perfectly fitted to the diameter of about .25 cm ( 3/8 ") and the ends were all neatly tucked and folded shut.

There is no way an ovipositor can be a foot long is there?
I doubt it is a wasp. I think. I'm pretty sure. Well maybe there might be.


Five of these little packages wrapped in identically-sized leaves were butted up to one another at the bottom of a channel that was about 30 cm (a foot) deep . The channel entered the cut end of the log and continued in an angle to its end.

We know of wood borers and wood-boring wasps but the neat little packets that deep into the log meant female took took exceptional care to wrap each egg carefully in a leaf to ensure its survival. And whatever insect went that deep had to be able to back into the channel quite a way to deposit the eggs.

Or is it a type of caterpillar's work ? Hmmm!???

What can it be ?

Do you have any idea? Let me know.

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