[Arid_gardener] Insect ID

[Linda Guy]

You can take a specimen to the satellite office nearest to you, or better yet, take it to the county's Cooperative Extension Office at 4341 E. Broadway Road in Phoenix. There is a weekly diagnostic meeting comprised of staff and volunteer Master Gardeners who work on problems submitted by the public. Someone will call you after the meeting to discuss the committee's findings.  Satellite office addresses are listed on the page of our website where you originally posted your query.

Sorry I could not ID your critter myself.

Linda Guy
Master Gardener

sonja.branch@asu.edu wrote:

> Hi, I'm new to the list, and I'm so glad to have found it because I hope someone out there can help me.  I have a (I think) desert museum palo verde that's been in the ground for just over a year.  A couple of months ago I started seeing numerous "chewed-up" strips in the bark, usually 1/2" to 1 1/2" long and no more than a 1/4" wide, with new damage always appearing over night.  I started asking around for clues about what might be causing this and no-one could give a definite answer, only suggestions.  After implementing various tactics to try and catch the culpit (I had eliminated disease along the way) I finally caught one of them in the act at 12:45 this morning:  it's brown, and it looks and moves like a inchworm (though this particular one that I captured is not quite an inch long.)  Does anyone know exactly what these critters are, and how I can control them?  Despite all the scars the tree seems to be alright so far, but I don't know if it can continue to survive the !
> loss of so much bark in some places.  It doesn't help the trees appearance, either.  I'd appreciate any insight folks might have to offer on this problem.
>
> Sonja
>
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