A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife
Neatly laid rows of grey blue eggs with a smooth exterior. The narrower ends were a pale pink colour. Each egg would have been about 5 mm long
Spotted on a leaf on a Eucalyptus tree in a nature reserve.
There was no sign of any other life ( that I could observe) on the branch. Would appreciate any help with identifying the adult.
I took the leaf home for observation. Eight days later (Pic 3) there were 16 larvae ! So, there wasn't a second layer of eggs as I first thought.
The larvae looked very much like those of other leaf beetles. They seemed to have stiff setae in the abdominal segments.
Because I was anxious that they may die without fresh leaves, I returned them to the tree where I found them - hopefully I can still observe their development there.
3 Comments
Why are comments disappearing?
Sukanya, I was thinking of bringing the eggs home and watching them. We will have access to fresh leaves when the cattys hatch.
Very pretty eggs. I agree that they resemble leaf beetle eggs, maybe even tortoise beetle eggs? I've never seen them with such a beautiful blue color though.