Feeding Frenzy: Case Bearing Moth Larvae eat dog biscuit

bugman

February 18th, 2011 at 5:05 am

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Subject: What’s my bug?!
Location: Irvine, California 92612
February 17, 2011 6:34 pm
Hi,
Living in Southern California. Have searched and searched and can’t find anything resembling there. They have a papery outer shell, and the head protrudes by only a couple of mm.. These pictures are of them feeding off a dog biscuit – when I’ve left one they turn up within an hour from under the baseboard. This is the most so far (16). They are mobile but very slow as the head / thorax comes out and drags the rest of the papery shell along.
Signature: Many thanks, Toby

Case Bearing Moth Larvae

Hi Toby,
Your image of an infestation of Case Bearing Moth Larvae has us aghast. We have never seen documentation of so many in one place at one time. Most identification quests for this cosmopolitan Household Intruder are of single individuals. They feed on organic debris including shed pet hair.

Case Bearing Moth Larvae

Hi Daniel, thank you so much for getting back to me. This is very interesting.
From what I can gather from the internet they’re pretty harmless, so I’ll leave them be for now. Incidentally I tried them on a Lucky Charm but they seem to prefer the dog biscuit.. I think I’ve seen a maximum of 20 at one time, there are 16 in the pic I sent you. Note also in the pic that there’s one emerging from the baseboard at the top, as well as a juvenile in the lower left. Right now there are also a couple more making their way towards the biscuit across the bathroom floor, but they still have a yard or so to go.
Interesting also that they are _very_ alert – any motion around them and they go hide in their casings for a good 10 minutes.
Many thanks again, Toby.

Thanks for the update Toby. We really enjoyed your observational account of the behavior of Case Bearing Moth Larvae.