Page 16 - The Book of Caterpillars: A Life-Size Guide to Six Hundred Species From Around the World

FROM EGGS

TO PUPATION

14
14

Like all eggs, butterfly and moth eggs are fragile and attractive to predators.

The relatively slow-moving larvae that hatch from them are also vulnerable
and, in order to survive their complex phases of development and reach
pupation, the final stage before adulthood, they must deploy a remarkable
BELOW LEFT The range of strategies that have evolved to meet the challenges of their habitats.
developing larva is
apparent through
the transparent shell
of this mature egg of EGGS—LAYING AND HATCHING
the Western Tiger
Swallowtail (Papilio Using visual and olfactory stimuli, female butterflies and moths often care-
rutulus) and is only
hours from hatching. fully select a spot on or close to a specific host plant, where their miniscule
BELOW RIGHT Eggs of eggs can hatch in safety, although some moths distribute eggs randomly,
some species such
as the California conferring the benefits of a broad host plant range. Differing in size and
Tortoiseshell
(Nymphalis californica) shape according to species, eggs may be laid singly or in glued-together
are laid in large
masses. This mass of masses of up to 1,000, on upper or lower surfaces of leaves, on buds or
about 250 eggs will
produce caterpillars flowers, encircled around twigs, on the ground, on rocks, or on other non-
that are gregarious
for most of their lives. plant substrates. Being so small and often cryptically colored, perhaps