Here’s an odd one and suggestions or positive id please. My taxidermist friend John Burton had a phone call regarding a Goldfinch which unfortunately died colliding with a window. The bird put to one side was collected two or three hours later, there were feathers coming off the dead bird revealing underneath two ‘caterpillars’ burrowing into the flesh. A day or two later someone brought in for John a Tawny Owl casualty which had been preserved in the freezer, examining the bird another ‘caterpillar’ same as on the Goldfinch fell out dead. The larvae are around an inch long, very dark brown and smooth skinned. I haven’t seen them but he has kept the dead Goldfinch in an aerated container with the larvae and is watching what happens! He has never ever seen these larvae before during many years of his craft.
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Do you believe them to be lepidopterous? Beetle larvae would be much more likely.
Thanks, Raymond, sorry for delay of acknowledgement, computer was down. I have only reported that the larvae were called ” caterpillars” and have made no judgement on what larvae type they are.
Keith
Certain Carrion Beetle larvae match the size and colour but I am not aware of the beetle or how common it is (not the burying beetles). They are not very much like a Lepidoptera caterpillar though. Might be worth getting your friend to look them up on the internet or even take a photo?