Caterpillar ?Cicada larvae
Location: Michigan
May 2, 2012 9:39 pm
I found this caterpillar in the garden on a sunny day in May in Michigan. It was very fast and before I got my camera it disapeared. When I located it, it had burrowed head first into the leaf litter on top of the soil. It had some bristles near the head. Looks like a cicada larva to me but the pictures I saw looked different.
Signature: Linda
Hi Linda,
This is the larva of a Scarab Beetle and it is commonly called a Grub. Though we are uncertain of the exact species, we suspect it might be the larva of a Green June Beetle, Cotinis nitida, which you can find pictured on BugGuide.
Thank you for the identification. It certainly does look like the one in BugGuide. I forgot to mention the size, it was large, at least 3 inches. My bug book shows the Green June Beetle larvae at 2 inches. I love your site and have it bookmarked. Thanks again, Linda