Butterflypixie, I'm glad I didn't kill it then. It looked kind of ugly to me, but then again, I used to think caterpillars were ugly. lol I never knew that about some moths digging into the ground...very interesting. MissSherry, Darn, now I wish I would have kept it, but being that I was sure what it was, I was afraid that if it was anything good that I might be depriving it of food if I kept it and it needed to it. I did see it move. That's why I wasn't sure if it was a pupa or what it was. I know that my Monarch pupas didn't move while I had them here except of course when the caterpillars was wiggling around in there getting situated right after it went into pupation. Nope, it didn't have an holes in it as far as I could see. It was definitely alive. Cathy

Some sort of beetle larvae, I'd say, but don;t know what. I'll try to post the pic in the Oz gallery. Failing a proper ID, I'd just assume they were doing no harm as such in the leaf litter, and probably haven't invaded your compost heap, but if you were dubious just turn them out on the lawn and let the native birds have a picnic.

Hi, they look like cabbage worms (but could be rose slugs too). I would try BT on the leaves. You can get it premixed in a hand sprayer or a concentrated formula that you mix yourself and pour into a spray bottle. Spray it on the leaves every 2 weeks (or right after a rain). It's toxic to any caterpillars or worms that are eating the leaves and leaves everything else alone. I use it to keep skeletonizers off my grape vines and it works great.

That's exactly what they are! I think they're really cool looking, don't you? There are not too many things that allow you to look into their 'innards'. For the most part, these sawfly larvae do cosmetic injury and the tree will recover from the assault and leaf out normally next season. Treating them is not recommended unless it happens a few years in a row, which can weaken the tree. Lots of other critters will move in to feast on these pests, another reason to avoid spraying.