Insect 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.

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anyone know what these things could be?

Reply to
Jonathan Sachs
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I'm going with "a really cool hoax".

Reply to
Steve

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.

Reply to
Jonathan Sachs

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

Reply to
Lar

Your description reminds me of Mexican Jumping beans. The rage in the early 1950's.

Bill

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Reply to
William Wagner

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.

Reply to
Jonathan Sachs

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.

Reply to
Jonathan Sachs

I just noticed this today, here in Sacramento. Pretty amazing!

Reply to
mvaldez

wasp larvae inside? what kind of wasps and should we try to get rid of them?

Reply to
SPAMnEater

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

Reply to
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

Reply to
thatguysgirlfriend

"Jean" Mary Schaefer, Attorney at Law

2560 Castlewood Drive, Sacramento, CA 95821 916-925-4400
Reply to
jeanschaefer2000

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