Cluster of Tiny Clear-white Worms are Pine Catkin Sawfly Larvae

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“This morning I went outside to find one of her dog toys absolutely covered in these tiny worms/maggots,” states this reader in her submission. The worms she is referring to appear to be an off-white color, with semi-transparent skin and segmented bodies.

The dog whose toy the worms were found on belongs to our reader’s grandmother, and our reader was taking care of it for her when she noticed the worms. “It looked like a pile of sawdust from a distance. It looked like they’d burst out of the toy, and I couldn’t find any others around said toy or anywhere else in the yard.” She adds that she tried her best to get decent pictures of the creatures, which we think she succeeded in. The zoomed-in photo was taken using an HDMI microscope, while the photo of the worms next to a dime for size-comparison was taken using a phone. Both of the photos are very good, and have helped us a lot in identifying the worms, which brings us to the next segment.

We think that these worms/maggots are actually pine catkin sawfly larvae. Sawflies are winged insects that belong to the same suborder as bees and wasps (Symphyta), and they are often mistaken for wasps, given that certain species have a black and yellow coloration. That said, the pine catkin sawfly has a black coloration. This particular species of sawfly gets its name from their source of food, namely catkin. Catkin are the male cones of a pine tree, and they shed pollen, which the creatures feed on.

What we think happened is that the dog chewed on a catkin that had pine catkin sawfly eggs on it. Following this, the egg sacs stuck to the inside of the dog’s mouth, and was later transferred to the toy when it chewed on that. Following this, the eggs hatched and this cluster of larvae was born.

The only thing that has us doubting this identification is that pine catkin sawfly tends to lay its eggs in February. That said, there are multiple species of pine sawfly, so perhaps this is just a different species, but this is the closest match we found in terms of physical appearance. We also considered that these might be clothes moth larvae, as they have similar coloration and segmentation, though these creatures are missing the light brown head that they tend to have.

In any case, this identification is not made with 100% certainty, so if our reader or her grandmother are worried for their dog’s health as a result of this discovery, then we recommend taking it to the vet for a check up.

To conclude, we think these are some kind of pine sawfly larvae, though they best resemble pine catkin sawfly larvae. We hope that our reader and her grandmother have found this article insightful, and we wish them the best.

 

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Summary
Cluster of Tiny Clear-white Worms are Pine Catkin Sawfly Larvae
Article Name
Cluster of Tiny Clear-white Worms are Pine Catkin Sawfly Larvae
Description
"This morning I went outside to find one of her dog toys absolutely covered in these tiny worms/maggots," states this reader in her submission. The worms she is referring to appear to be an off-white color, with semi-transparent skin and segmented bodies.
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Author: Worm Researcher Anton

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