More Large Microscopy

[CaterpillarGuy]

Following Rodney's lead with some pics of anise swallowtail (Papilio zelicaon) caterpillar eggs.

Image shot with a MS Lifecam webcam of an egg laid on a fennel frond. The eggs are about 1mm in diameter:



An egg pic showing how an egg is pretty nicely glued to the frond. Shot with the 2MP digicam built into my new (to me) Nat'l Optical stereo zoom scope (DC5-420TH) bought via ebay a week or two ago. This is one of the best pics I have been able to take with the camera as it is very difficult to get a view that approximates reality. There are many sliders to mess with in the photo software, and most adjustments lead to gross distortions of one sort or another. I got lucky with this one.



Shot thru the scope eyepiece with my handheld Canon Powershot 260. Looks kinda like an orbiting celestial body, no? The black and white bits are gunk from the surroundings. That is presumably a developing caterpillar in there, but viewed in stereo thru the eyepieces, it looks 2-dimensional, more like pigmentation of the egg shell than an embryo.

[billbillt]

Hi CaterpillarGuy,
This is a very nice subject to study... Would it be possible to somewhat follow this until it hatches?.. Billt

[Rodney]

Keep up the good work cat...guy.

Rodney

[CaterpillarGuy]

Bill, these have already hatched and there is a bit more of a sense of sequence on my caterpillar page here, where the pics came from:

http://www.berkeleyswallowtails.com/eggs.shtml

I would like to do a more detailed series of shots of a single egg to catch the whole process, but I haven't gotten around to it yet.

[CaterpillarGuy]

Thanks, Rodney.

[gekko]

Wonderful! And the link to the rest of the story is well worth clicking on!

[CaterpillarGuy]

Thanks, Gekko, much appreciated.

[Rodney]

I agree, I went through many pages of it.

Rodney

[CaterpillarGuy]

Thanks, Rodney. I have been sporadically adding pages to the site for a very long time--about 15 years (I can scarcely believe it!) now. Getting a dissecting scope has been in the back of my mind for most of those years, and now that I have one, esp. when I get the photo aspect going the way I'd like, the site is going to expand considerably.

[JimT]

Geeze! And to think I buy and cook fennel Well at least I grill it.
Great photos.

JimT

[billbillt]

Hi CaterpillarGuy,

You have a wonderful web page!... I can't stop reading it!....

BillT

[CaterpillarGuy]

Thanks JimT, there may be more than one kind of fennel. I'm not sure this is the same fennel as that sold in produce stores.

Bill, thanks very much---that's the highest compliment!

[Charles]

Nice pictures and very nice site Cat Guy!

We have some containers on our deck where we grow herbs and recently noticed some striped caterpillars munching down on the parsley. I let them have at it and a few days later they disappeared. I thought maybe a bird got them but going through your site, they must have got to the wandering stage and wandered off somewhere to pupate. Then shortly after, noticed a butterfly landing on the parsley and a few days later a new batch of caterpillars emerged. Maybe I'll take a few inside and watch them develop. Your site will help build my own nursery!

[CaterpillarGuy]

Ah, Charles, be careful! Once you bring them inside the hook will be set.

[CaterpillarGuy]

I tried shooting a stereo pair of an egg. There are clearly 3D contents, but not IDable as a caterpillar yet.

The stereo pair doesn't work that well (3D is subtle at best), but if you know how to do the crossed-eye trick, give it a try:



I also need to make some frosted glass to diffuse the glare of the light source.

[Rodney]

Quick shot of one of our locals.

Rodney

[CaterpillarGuy]

Beautiful! Looks like a sphinx moth caterpillar.

[Rodney]

I think so. this one is in the act of eating some type of pond weed. Length is around 4 inches.

Rodney

[Charles]

We get those on our tomato plants...

[Rodney]

They will eat the heck out of tomato plants.

Rodney

[CaterpillarGuy]

And they're very hard to see on tomato plants. You can look right at them and miss them.

[CaterpillarGuy]

On the above pond plant, the caterpillar's diagonal white lines are very similar to the leaves' pattern of veins. Good camo.

[Charles]

After work today, went to look for the caterpillars on the parsley but they were all gone. I think the birds got to them because even the small ones were gone except one. But, as I was finishing mowing the yard, I saw a black swallowtail flying around the herb garden doing her thing again. So, I'll have more cats to look after and protect this time.

Here she is doing her thing.

[Rodney]

I enjoy watching the moths from these cats, those 2 from my pics are out by the pond doing fine and eating galore. I`m not sure where they will go but they are as free as a bird for now.

Rodney

[CaterpillarGuy]

The black swallowtails are my favorite (most beautiful, imo) but they don't occur here in Central/Northern California.

Mortality (due to predators) for butterfly eggs and caterpillars is high, maybe 90-95% around here as a guess after watching them for years. But that's just Mother Nature doing her usual thing, I guess. Almost all creatures live in very bad neighborhoods.

[Rodney]

One last photo from this morning, seems to be going strong.

Rodney

[CaterpillarGuy]

Very nice pic with the reflection of the sky and trees in the water. At least I think that's what I'm seeing.

[Rodney]

Right, the water is like a mirror this morning.

Rodney

[CaterpillarGuy]

Development is proceeding rapidly! Hairs, general shape of curled-up caterpillar now visible, and movement!

Terrible vignetting, but oh well...solutions are being worked on.



I think the dark structure in the lower middle is the head, and the caterpillar then curls to the left and around to the right side.


Claspers of a big resting cat and an aphid (I think) on the silked-up fennel stem:



Vid to come...I hope.

[CaterpillarGuy]

Caterpillar body now visible:




Motion (go to full screen--looks better). Also turn down sound--annoying background noise:



And sorry about the hand-held camera!