A small chunk of leaves fell off of a potted tomato plant. We noticed our cats taking an interest in it once it started moving. Then a little caterpillar poked its head out. What kind of bug is this and should we worry about our plant?
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theforestecologist
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Nick Criswell
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1Can you describe its size or take a photo with something for scale? – arboviral Jul 01 '17 at 21:24
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I apologize, the bug moved shortly after I took the picture and now I can't find it. It was pretty small. The pictures above probably show about 1cm of its body poking out and the diameter of the bug is less than half a cm, I would say. – Nick Criswell Jul 03 '17 at 16:58
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1Larvae making these sort of cases out of found material is typical for Bagworm Moths (Psychidae), but I don't know what species you have in Missouri. But it's a start if you don't get an answer here. – picapica Jul 03 '17 at 20:45
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This is the larvae (caterpillar) of a bagworm moth (family Psychidae).
Source: Wikimedia Commons; Credit: Bernard DUPONT
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From Wikipedia:
The caterpillar larvae of the Psychidae construct cases out of silk and environmental materials such as sand, soil, lichen, or plant materials.
There are about 240 genera, so I will leave IDing to lower taxonomic levels up to you. However, based on the striations of the caterpillar and your lcoation, the Evergreen Bagworm Moth doesn't seem like a bad guess...
theforestecologist
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