This is a larva of a bagworm (Psychidae), carrying about its characteristic bag or case, composed by silk and portions of twigs. The larva, when full-grown, will pupate inside the bag. The adult males have well-developed wings, and leave their larval-pupal bags; the adult females on the contrary are wingless, legless, and do not leave their bags. Mating occurs without the females leave their bags; the eggs are laid in the bag. Regards,

Rinaldo Nicoli

I would say it is most definetly a caterpilar, most probably family Pyralidae or related- as they build a similar structures, but i am ain't australian fauna expert.

I agree with Viktor. It's Lepidopteran caterpillar.

Viktor:

Vielen Dank.

George:

Thanks a lot. Would it be possible for you to send me an image of Lepidopteran  caterpillar matching the one documented by me.

Best

Syed

Sir, I can say at least Lepidopteran caterpillar. 

Hello Syed,

The only pyralids in which I have any expertise are aquatic ones, but your image certainly looks like one to me, albeit terrestrial (I've attached a scan of a UK aquatic pyralid - material from Dr. Ian Wallace) . The only other (slight) possibility is that your specimen is a terrestrial caddis (Trichoptera), but it's not a familiar one to me and I would regard this as much less likely.

All best,

Richard

Richard:

Mine is likely to be made by a caterpillar of Terrestrial Moth - Do not know the species though. Thank you so much.

Best

Syed

Dear all! Interesting answers. Please respond, which carries the sacred meaning of such a custom? Thank you in advance

Vladimir

Syed,

Strange creature!

what about the size?

Is it a live?

Best 

Hakima

Its moth caterpillar but not Pyralidae, it is Psychidae.

Mateusz is right. It is a Bagworm Moth of Psychidae. Please see link:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagworm_moth

Hakima:

It is live over 20cm or more in length- makes better homes than we do!

Best

Syed

This is a larva of a bagworm (Psychidae), carrying about its characteristic bag or case, composed by silk and portions of twigs. The larva, when full-grown, will pupate inside the bag. The adult males have well-developed wings, and leave their larval-pupal bags; the adult females on the contrary are wingless, legless, and do not leave their bags. Mating occurs without the females leave their bags; the eggs are laid in the bag. Regards,

Rinaldo Nicoli

That is very interesting!  I often see one of these cases with just a few segments of an upper body wiggling slowly.  Your insight about the homebound female explains why little spiders are so often to be found next to the cases.  They are either waiting for the eggs to hatch or are waiting to be able to open the case and get the babies.

Fascinating creature. I'm entirely unfamiliar with psychids (I'm assuming there are no aquatic species, but you never know). Thanks all for your insights.

Richard

I don't know the Australian fauna, but if a caterpillar lives in a bag, it may not be for sure a member of the family of Psychidae. For example the families of Incurvariidae and Coleophoridae also have "bagworms", although I think the be bagworm of Syed looks more than a member of Psychidae.

E.g.: http://www.lepiforum.de/lepiwiki_vgl.pl?Fotouebersicht_Coleophoridae_Raupen_5

Rudolf

Rudolf:

Please have a look at Wikipedia link.

Best

Syed

Syed, what do you mean, is't it working? On my computer it works.

Rudolf

Rudolf:

I never said is't it working? What is working on your computer? Have a look at Wikipedia link in my earlier answer. Thanks.

Best

Syed

Ok, Syed, I didn't see that link. But nevertheless there are bagworms also in other families of Lepidoptera.

Rudolf

Many species, even orders, of insects make these little bags or cases, some of tiny stones, some of tiny twigs.  I haven't spied one of pure silk, but who knows?  In my earlier comment, I should have said that the ones I see are of all sorts.  

I don't know the life cycle of lacewings, but this one may have just emerged from the case beside it.  Next is a spider sitting against a case made of twigs.  No idea what the creature in the case is. 

Martha, I think, what you saw out of pure silk with the spiders around, is the nest of a spider. But this is guessing, I didn't see it.

On your first picture above there is specimen of Neuroptera, family of Hemerobiidae behind the bagworm. It has nothing to do with the bagworm. They are hunting, like their larvae, for plant louses.

Rudolf

The lacewing in the photo by Martha O'kennon is a brown-lacewing belonging to the genus Micromus (cf. M. angulatus). The larvae of these neuroptera, before pupation, build a thin silk cocoon in sheltered places. It is possible that in the case of the picture the cocoon has been built in a vacuum (abandoned) bag of a bagworm. But it is necessary to ascertain the presence of the brown-lacewing cocoon in the bag to be sure. Perhaps even the spider uses a vacuum case of a bagworm for shelter. Regards,

Rinaldo Nicoli

Hi Rudolf and Rinaldo, thanks to both of you for all your information about animals that live in a case of several kinds of construction.  I recognize the brown lacewing, in fact I've seen their larvae/nymphs at work in the goldenrod chasing aphids.  But I've never known much about their other habits.  Rinaldo, thanks especially for all the knowledge you've shared here about the various uses for the bags/cases.  It is a fascinating subject!

Martha

I''ve been having trouble with this message system.  About half my messages go into a "mailstrom" when I hit the "add" button.  Let's hope this works.

 Hi Martha,

Caddisflies are a passion of mine, in large part because of the cases they construct as larvae. Should you ever want to delve into this world, 'Caddisflies: The Underwater Architects" by Glenn B. Wiggins is an absolute gem.

Cheers,

Richard

Thank you, Richard, so much!  I will indeed see if I can get hold of that book.  I love it when people use the words "passion" and "caddisflies" in the same sentence.  I do need to study who is making the various kinds of cases I see.  Last year, when I first began seeing caddisflies, I didn't recognize them and wrote to bugguide.net to ask "what kind of moth is this?".  I also saw stoneflies a month or two ago, but I've never seen either of those animals coming out of their cases. 

I gave a talk last night on the various tiny ecosystems in my "wild habitat" back yard.  I was able to get a few children to come.  I also passed a sheet of paper for them to put down their names and emails in case they were interested in forming an informal "bug club".  I got 4 or 5 takers, which may be the optimal number so that everyone gets a chance to report on his/her own findings.  I think it's so important to get kids involved in looking at stuff around them. 

The link is down right now.  I was running the talk as a website on my server from a room that wasn't really set up for foreign servers.  I must have hit a shutdown at some point - I only remember hitting "log out".  It is supposed to come back online even after a shutdown but lately it hasn't.  Anyway, here is the URL for when it does come back, also the URL for my running "backyard blog".  I've got a call in to IT to see if they will just give the server a kick. 

http://mokennon.albion.edu/2016/nature%20in%20the%20small.htm

http://mokennon.albion.edu/backyardblog.htm

Hi Martha,

Both URLs worked fine for me & your sites are absolutely wonderful. I especially like the grey tree frog (though anything with a backbone isn't really my thing!). Keep up the good work!

Cheers,

Richard

Thanks.  I had phoned the man at IT who is always helping me out.  He said the network card had to be re-installed.  I wonder if the building where I gave the talk isn't made to allow my server to work as usual.  So he came in at 8:30 and got it running.

Those frogs are so cute.  I have got another question running on RG pertaining to my toad problems.  

I don't mind the backbones, but really like it when I'm photographing something so tiny I can barely make it out and discover it is just a throbbing mass of colors!

https://www.researchgate.net/post/Do_male_toads_kill_each_other

A bagworm, family Psychidae. Unambiguous!

It is a bagworm (Fam. Psychidae), in my locality the people know this caterpillar as "pull up sticks worm".

Best regards