Hello,

A passionfruit I potted a few months ago has started putting out buds, flowers, and is now even making its first fruit. It's relatively young, but is starting to put out a lot of new growth.

It is outdoors in a zone 10 area with lots of sunlight and relatively cool nights.

I noticed a couple of days ago that there are a lot of caterpillar-like individuals on the top of the mulch. Today, I see what is probably hundreds of them (the pot is about 24" in diameter). They are not on the plant, at all, and seem more interested crawling on the inside walls of the pot (once they reached the glazed rim they fall off); some of them are crawling around on the mulch, though.

The pictures of some of the key pests I am finding on the Internet don't quite match what I'm seeing here, and I am puzzled that these things aren't trying to eat the plant (which the most worrisome larvae seem to do, based on what I've read?).

Does anyone have any idea what these might be? I don't want to kill something that might be beneficial, but I am worried that even if they're not eating anything now, once they hatch they will... Here is a photo.