Don’t kill the curl grubs in your garden – they could be native beetle babies

By Tanya Latty, Associate professor, University of Sydney
Chris Reid, Adjunct Associate Professor in Zoology, UNSW Sydney

Have you ever been in the garden and found a large, white, C-shaped grub with a distinctive brown head and six legs clustered near the head?

If so, you’ve had an encounter with the larva of a scarab beetle (family: Scarabaeidae) also known as a “curl grub”.

Many gardeners worry these large larvae might damage plants.

So what are curl grubs? And should you be concerned if you discover them in your garden?

What are curl grubs?

Curl grubs turn into scarab beetles.

There are more than 30,000 species of scarab beetles worldwide.…

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