Egg Papilio machaon update I & update II

Images of undisturbed subjects in their natural environment. All subject types.

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Guido
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Egg Papilio machaon update I & update II

Post by Guido »

we are very happy that this magnificent butterfly visits our garden. A few days ago i witnessed a female during the egg deposit.

Image
Last edited by Guido on Mon Jul 27, 2020 11:26 am, edited 2 times in total.

hayath
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Re: Egg Papilio machaon

Post by hayath »

Lovely!
Looking forward to images from the next stages

Guido
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Re: Egg Papilio machaon

Post by Guido »

The egg larger; The setup is about 4 to 5 X I think ;)
Cropping has also helped to enlarge the tiny egg.
The egg turned brown.


Image

My setup: K1, Schneider apo componon 60/4 Bellows. 1/60 iso 800, external flash & softbox

Image

rjlittlefield
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Re: Egg Papilio machaon update I

Post by rjlittlefield »

The egg turned brown.
This is a good thing. Brown is the normal color of a developing egg.

The larva that finally hatches will be nearly black, with some light spots for camouflage.

There is a dramatic shift in coloration when the larvae are half-grown.

--Rik

Guido
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Re: Egg Papilio machaon update I

Post by Guido »

The larva that finally hatches will be nearly black,
I also read that the egg's hatch after 7 days; So that should be next Sunday.
Problem is that we expect rain and wind.

I was thinking to place the egg in a controlled environment (terrarium) but I have no experience in this matter.

I checked the magnification in this setup it is about 3,6 x.

NikonUser
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Re: Egg Papilio machaon update I

Post by NikonUser »

Should be easy to rear to an adult if you place the egg on a living plant (of the same species) in a cage.
Cut off a small piece of stem containing the egg and attach the cut piece to the stem of the plant in a pot. The caterpillar will do the rest!
Best not to touch the egg or the young caterpillar
Last edited by rjlittlefield on Thu Jul 23, 2020 10:31 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: typo, "tough" -> "touch"
NU.
student of entomology
Quote – Holmes on ‘Entomology’
” I suppose you are an entomologist ? “
” Not quite so ambitious as that, sir. I should like to put my eyes on the individual entitled to that name.
No man can be truly called an entomologist,
sir; the subject is too vast for any single human intelligence to grasp.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr
The Poet at the Breakfast Table.

Nikon camera, lenses and objectives
Olympus microscope and objectives

Guido
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Joined: Wed Jun 08, 2011 1:02 am

Re: Egg Papilio machaon update I

Post by Guido »

The egg turned completely black! In fact you can see the carterpilar inside.
A stack from 4 RAW files.
I decided that I leaved the egg outside on the plant. This had consequences the time could not be longer then 1/100 and I had to use the light of the flash.
Lessons for next time, improve the quality of the flash lights. and make an extra plamp to hold a background.

Image

The newborn eating the egg shell
No stack

Image

Interesting to see that there are more insects living on the plant

Image

rjlittlefield
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Re: Egg Papilio machaon update I & update II

Post by rjlittlefield »

Yes, that's the beast! Nicely shot. :D

--Rik

Guido
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Re: Egg Papilio machaon update I & update II

Post by Guido »

Thank you Rik.
Last edited by Guido on Mon Jul 27, 2020 2:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.

NikonUser
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Re: Egg Papilio machaon update I & update II

Post by NikonUser »

The probability of it surviving to an adult in the wild is about 1% - that's nature!
NU.
student of entomology
Quote – Holmes on ‘Entomology’
” I suppose you are an entomologist ? “
” Not quite so ambitious as that, sir. I should like to put my eyes on the individual entitled to that name.
No man can be truly called an entomologist,
sir; the subject is too vast for any single human intelligence to grasp.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr
The Poet at the Breakfast Table.

Nikon camera, lenses and objectives
Olympus microscope and objectives

Dassi
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Location: Alberta, Canada

Re: Egg Papilio machaon update I & update II

Post by Dassi »

The fact that you were able to capture the whole process is just too cool! Very interesting.

Guido
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Re: Egg Papilio machaon update I & update II

Post by Guido »

NikonUser wrote:
Mon Jul 27, 2020 2:43 pm
The probability of it surviving to an adult in the wild is about 1% - that's nature!
Thats true, it could even be that the survival rate was better in captivity.
But I did not had a proper cage, was not prepared as I should be.

Guido
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Re: Egg Papilio machaon update I & update II

Post by Guido »

day 3 the carterpilar's size is about double;.Estimated 2mm.

This time made with the lumix and olympus 60 macro

Image

and a short video. Shooting in Video you can choose to only use the part used bij the sensor.
That gives a 4k video cropped without quality loss.

Video link

rjlittlefield
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Re: Egg Papilio machaon update I & update II

Post by rjlittlefield »

Nice image.

This looks like the resting state between larval stages, where the caterpillar has grown as large as it can inside its current skin, and is taking a break from eating to grow a new skin and a new head capsule, inside the old skin and head.

Soon it will split the skin in the front, the old head capsule will fall off, and the caterpillar will crawl forward out of the old skin, leaving it crumpled like a discarded sock.

The new skin will be much larger, so that instead of the "stuffed sausage" appearance shown in this picture, the caterpillar will again appear wrinkled and accordion pleated, like in your first picture.

Barring predation, parasitism, or disease, this process will repeat several times until the caterpillar is full grown and molts one last time to become the immobile pupa.

Under protected conditions most of the caterpillars make it through all these complicated steps, but in the wild their chances are very slim.

--Rik

Guido
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Re: Egg Papilio machaon update I & update II

Post by Guido »

That is fine information, hope to capture this.

Not a good video but interesting behavior!

video klick Link

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