Bugs and Butterflies

[Turtle]

Originally Posted by stereologist

I teach my kids to find eggs on leaves. We raise caterpillars every year. One of the amazing sights that my kids have seen many times is the caterpillar forming a chrysalis. We've seen the butterfly emerging from the chrysalis as often.

Your comment must have gone subliminal in my caranium. I thought a spot on the leaf of one of my tomato plants was another piece of dead leaf stuck there, but when I looked more closely I saw it was a cluster of insect eggs. I have no idea what kind of bug, and I have never seen these before on my tomatos. I picked the leaf to photo it; will this mean the eggs won't continue to develop? How should I keep them to get them to hatch?

insect eggs on tomato leaf

[Turtle]

Not having much luck on ID here, other than that this is a wild bee. The deep orange poppy is adding some color to the stripes on the abdomen which are actually white.

[Ganoderma]

I love butterflies, but hate their wormy babies in my gardens!!!

[Cedars]

Originally Posted by Turtle

Not having much luck on ID here, other than that this is a wild bee. The deep orange poppy is adding some color to the stripes on the abdomen which are actually white.

I would start with mining bees, family Andrenidae. Look for the common ones in your area, might be able to narrow it down that way. Watch for common season. Can be very helpful in bug ID's

[Cedars]

Originally Posted by Ganoderma

I love butterflies, but hate their wormy babies in my gardens!!!

Trivia I learned last weekend during a butterfly trek.

Brushfooted (type your is) has four main legs (keeping in mind insects have 6 legs), with two very undeveloped legs (where the term brushfooted comes from).

I assume this is one of your locals (tiawan?), and not a canadian butterfly.

[Turtle]

Originally Posted by Cedars

I would start with mining bees, family Andrenidae. Look for the common ones in your area, might be able to narrow it down that way. Watch for common season. Can be very helpful in bug ID's

Roger will have a look. What exactly does 'common season' refer to?

On another note, I put my little leaf in a shotglass with a dribble of water to keep it fresh, and today I see that the eggs are hatching. No sign yet the larvae have eaten any of the leaf, but I'm presuming the insect knows to lay eggs on a plant they can eat.

[Cedars]

Originally Posted by Turtle

Roger will have a look. What exactly does 'common season' refer to?

Sorry. Many bees have a time frame they are most common in.The date seen can sometimes help ID a bug.

Originally Posted by Turtle

On another note, I put my little leaf in a shotglass with a dribble of water to keep it fresh, and today I see that the eggs are hatching. No sign yet the larvae have eaten any of the leaf, but I'm presuming the insect knows to lay eggs on a plant they can eat.

While common, not always true. Depends on the species. First glance and without a lot of experience with VERY young cats (or caterpillars in general), I am guessing a moth (hairy). But that hair may fall off. If they dont eat fast, they will die. Try members of tomato family, grasses, willow, popular/aspens, cherry/fruit and see if they take to any of them. Oh and add a fresh tomato leaf.

Or them back outside where you found them

[Turtle]

Originally Posted by Cedars

While common, not always true. Depends on the species. First glance and without a lot of experience with VERY young cats (or caterpillars in general), I am guessing a moth (hairy). But that hair may fall off. If they dont eat fast, they will die. Try members of tomato family, grasses, willow, popular/aspens, cherry/fruit and see if they take to any of them. Oh and add a fresh tomato leaf.

Or put them back outside where you found them

I added a fresh leaf and scraped a few larvae onto a leaf still on the plant outside. The little buggers are decidedly sedantary, staying clustered as you see them. Perhaps another unwarranted presumption on my part is that the buggies are herbivores?

[Cedars]

Originally Posted by Turtle

I added a fresh leaf and scraped a few larvae onto a leaf still on the plant outside. The little buggers are decidedly sedantary, staying clustered as you see them. Perhaps another unwarranted presumption on my part is that the buggies are herbivores?

Well, you have them in a shot glass, on an old piece of leaf, presumably in a cool house. Temps impact activity, lots of caterpillars are night active and if these are a type which migrate to their host plant, there really isnt many options for them to behave naturally. Another thought is the Tent caterpillar/moth. Eggs are laid (for this area, the fall before) and when the cats hatch, they look for twigs to spin their group nest. But it is a recent laying, so look for early hatching/hibernating moths in your area.

The only carnivorous cat in N. America is the harvester. I do not know if they are in your area. I did see their butterfly in my yard already this year and photographed another on Crex Meadows a few weeks ago (first photo for that in Crex Meadows and the wisconsin county its in). If I remember right, it was the first report ever of harvesters in Crex's county, though they have been documented in counties north and south of Crex.

Let us know if you have caterpillars munching on the tomato leaf, or if they use a different host (you are going to add options for the ones you kept right?)

[Ganoderma]

Trivia I learned last weekend during a butterfly trek.

Brushfooted (type your is) has four main legs (keeping in mind insects have 6 legs), with two very undeveloped legs (where the term brushfooted comes from).

I assume this is one of your locals (tiawan?), and not a canadian butterfly.

thats pretty cool, never knew that! yes, this is a common Taiwanese sight. actually its a slow one as the others all blurred up the pics lol.

any thoughts on this bee? was taken last week here in mid taiwan