23 July 2012

23 July 2012 – Eggs Hatched!

Hatched Larvae

The eggs from the post on 10 July have hatched! There were originally 24 eggs, but we can only count 23 caterpillars. One was still emerging at the time of the photograph. You can see it hatching if you look midway up and to the right side of the group. The rest of the larvae have already eaten the casing of their eggs. They are now huddled under the shade of a cloverleaf.

In order to feed them, we’ve placed grass and clover onto one side of the cage. Tomorrow we will replace those plants by putting fresh clippings on the opposite end of the cage. The caterpillars will smell the fresh food and travel across the cage to the new clippings and then we can toss the old grass without fearing that we’ve accidentally put the larvae in the trash.

We have two new species today but they would need to be dissected in order to be identified but, due to our ‘catch and release’ policy, we may never know. See the pictures below.

Resembles the Common Clothes Moth (Tineola bisselliella) – but is not.

A micro-moth in the Coleophora genus

Post by Helen Levins