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Homeowner Forum / Lawn and Garden / July 2007Insect identification: "jumping eggs" in the Sacramento Valley
A friend of mine has asked me to help her identify something she found in her garden this week. She noticed that the soil under one of her plants appeared to be moving. When she looked closer, she found a large number of small, light-colored things, the size of a poppy seed or somewhat smaller, that appeared to be jumping around. I thought at first that the things must be insects or larvae, but she told me that they are round, with no identifiable features. She says that they appear to be eggs. Her location is in the vicinity of California's Sacramento Valley. She made a short video of the jumping eggs, which I am posting on the Web. She couldn't get close enough to make it show detail of individual "eggs," but it shows the movement pretty clearly. http://www.amphigoricbooks.com/jumping-egg.WMV Does anyone know what these things could be? >Does anyone know what these things could be? I'm going with "a really cool hoax". >>Does anyone know what these things could be? > >I'm going with "a really cool hoax". I should add that she took a sample to a nursery and four staff members said they had seen the same thing, although they didn't know what it was. She's going to visit the local ag extension office to see if they can identify the things. She may not have time until late in the coming week, though, and if the jumping eggs are gone by then they will remain a mystery. I hope someone familiar with the area can help out. > A friend of mine has asked me to help her identify something she found > in her garden this week. She noticed that the soil under one of her [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > > Does anyone know what these things could be? I would guess her garden is under an oak tree... have her look up Jumping Oak Gall. Interesting little creature that can appear time to time when conditions are right. There is a tiny wasp larvae inside. Lar > > A friend of mine has asked me to help her identify something she found > > in her garden this week. She noticed that the soil under one of her [quoted text clipped - 21 lines] > > Lar Your description reminds me of Mexican Jumping beans. The rage in the early 1950's. Bill http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_jumping_bean  SignatureS Jersey USA Zone 5 Shade http://www.ocutech.com/ High tech Vison aid This article is posted under fair use rules in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, and is strictly for the educational and informative purposes. This material is distributed without profit. > Your description reminds me of Mexican Jumping beans. The rage in the >early 1950's. That did occur to me, although Mexican Jumping Poppy Seeds -- especially light-colored ones -- would arouse justifiable skepticism. The oak gall idea certainly sounds possible, and we will check it out. >I would guess her garden is under an oak tree... have her look up >Jumping Oak Gall. Interesting little creature that can appear time to >time when conditions are right. There is a tiny wasp larvae inside. You would guess right! I looked it up myself, and it did appear to match the description and the video. When I told her, she confirmed that there is an oak tree over her house whose droppings would slide off the roof onto this one particular place. Thank you -- I'm just about sure that you have solved the mystery. > >I would guess her garden is under an oak tree... have her look up > >Jumping Oak Gall. Interesting little creature that can appear time to [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > Thank you -- I'm just about sure that you have solved the mystery. I just noticed this today, here in Sacramento. Pretty amazing! wasp larvae inside? what kind of wasps and should we try to get rid of them? > wasp larvae inside? what kind of wasps and should we try to get rid of > them? No need to do anything about them...there are hundreds if not thousands of species of wasps around your home and most are very tiny and very beneficial. Not sure if the adults of these are considered beneficial or as most insects, placed in the of no consequence group. Lar > SPAMnEa...@gmail.com wrote: > > wasp larvae inside? what kind of wasps and should we try to get rid of [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > Lar Thank you for all your insight as to what this mysterious "thing" was all over my patio. Thousands of them have been collecting in a plastic "doggie" pool and creating quite some confusion around my house. Nobody seemed to believe what we were seeing. I looked up jumping oak gall and that is exactly what they are. We have MANY oak trees in the ravine behind our home so these little buggers are everwhere! Lori |
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