Help identifying garden pest please (living in, centers, great)

[poppopnc]

I know here are lots of gardeners on this forum -- can you help? I noticed today that my coneflowers have yucky little globs of material -- almost look like little nests on the centers of the flowers. So, I sprayed with Seven spray and then these little yellow maggot looking tiny worms started coming out. I think they were living in the centers. Some are more black than yellow. Yuck! I've searched all over the internet and can't find what these are? I don't think they're thrips and too small to be cutworms. They are teeny - like maggot sized. Really nasty and they were hurting my flowers. Thanks if you know the answer to this. Not really sure why I'm having this problem b/c coneflowers are supposed to be pest resistant. They were doing great before these pests landed.

[Claire_F]

Could be aphids or leaf hoppers? Maybe you're seeing the larvae?

[poppopnc]

thank you for the response. after extensive internet searches, i found the nasty critter -- it's a sunflower moth's larvae. they are apparently devastating to the blooms and they burrow into the flower's center, which is exactly what i observed them doing. gross.