Raspberry Beetle larvae (Byturus tomentosus) in your blackberries is never a pleasant thing. Down at Watermead the blackberry season has just started. The wildlife down there enjoy the seasonal bounty as much as humans do. Alongside the many birds there is a fantastic variety of insect life and it is the Raspberry Beetle that most enjoys the blackberries. In fact after selecting a few blackberries to make into a crumble we found that once again, our scrump was infested with a type of small caterpillar.
After rinsing the fruit I noticed that our washing up bowl contained eight to ten of the poor little things swimming about. So I carefully fished them out with a teaspoon and pored them and the water onto a piece of kitchen towel to separate the caterpillar from the water. Then I carefully brushed them into a jar containing a few blackberries.
So, granted, it is a little bit disgusting to sit and watch these things wriggle like maggots all over something that I would otherwise eat. As part of a biological study however, this is really interesting. At some point they will have to turn into beetles. How do they do this? Nobody knows and more importantly nobody has ever taken a photo of one in undergoing metamorphosis. You will just have to wait and see what happens.
Raspberry Beetle larvae (Byturus tomentosus) in your blackberries is never a pleasant thing. Down at Watermead the blackberry season has just started. The wildlife down there enjoy the seasonal bounty as much as humans do. Alongside the many birds there is a fantastic variety of insect life and it is the Raspberry Beetle that most enjoys the blackberries. In fact after selecting a few blackberries to make into a crumble we found that once again, our scrump was infested with a type of small caterpillar.
I was blackberry picking today with my family, and saw loads of these things. Even blackberries that had none on them as I picked them would soon have them on the surface after being in the box for a while. I guess they live inside the berries? I have been blackberry picking all my life but have somehow never seen them before. Is there anything in particular that brings them out? Such as rain etc.
ReplyDeleteReading your report is very interesting :)
Yes they live inside the berry. You can normally detect them by looking for a part of the berry that looks either slightly deflated or has juice leaking out of it. Glad it was of some help!
ReplyDeleteI see, I'm feeling slightly concerned as since my first comment I consumed the blackberries I mentioned in the form of a delicious crumble :/
ReplyDeleteStill, interesting stuff :)