Danaus plexippus Egg Mk. III

Egg Mk. III, originally uploaded by eclectic echoes.

Egg Mk. I hatched outside, but the caterpillar disappeared when only 1-2 days old (presumed eaten)

Egg Mk. II I believe was the victim of a parasitic wasp or fly. Under the scope the yellow mass outside the empty egg looks to be the remains of a caterpillar that has exploded(?)

But, Tammy brought in two eggs from the recent layings (and the leaves they are on) so hopefully this one will develop normally and then we can get pictures throughout its development. Of course this may forever scar the young caterpillar and have it following paparazzi flashes instead of nectar.

The plan is for my son to track the development with measurements of the caterpillar as well as the amount of food it eats etc. He has raised butterflies in the past, including monarchs but this time Tammy may make a more formal project of it.

Of course I get to get pictures hopefully!

Right now the egg is literally just a speck. This shot (a 1:1 pixel crop in the large size) was with a 100mm Macro, a 1.4x teleconverter and 48mm of extension tubes. The egg itself is just .02" in diameter.

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Arthropoda

SubPhylum

Hexapoda

Class

Insecta

Order

Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths)

Family

Danaidae (Milkweed Butterflies

Genus

Danaus

Species

Danaus plexippus