Wednesday, August 11, 2021

Eggs in odd places

The other day I noticed an oddity outside our screen door flap.

Looks strange, no?

Closer examination proved it to be a lovely white moth, a bit over an inch long. Anyone know the species?

Spread out near the moth was a series of yellow blobs.

Are those ... eggs?

Shortly thereafter, the moth died.

I guess it was a last-gasp attempt to pass on her legacy. Unfortunately it's not likely the eggs will hatch.

Or so I thought.

While putting up this blog post, I glanced down and saw the yellow blobs were gone. In their place were translucent white blobs.

Well, will wonders never cease. I guess the moth's legacy continues after all.

12 comments:

  1. Nature has wonderful surprises for us everywhere!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Might be a tiger moth? Sure is pretty!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Did the larva get inside your house? Hope not, they'll eat holes in your clothes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's not a clothes moth.

      Delete
    2. I thought ALL moths were clothes eating larva at some stage in their development. Never gave it much thought, just killed any moth I found inside my house as well as every catapillar I'd find crawling around on my floor or walls. Whoops, sorry, won't happen again.

      Delete
  4. A quick check of Ermine moths on Wikipedia would lead me to believe it is not a White Ermine. Those seem to be from European countries. According to Wikipedia, there is several hundred species, mostly in the tropics, with 5 or 6 sub-families. There is an American Ermine, but its dots are in rows, not random like this one. But it sure looks to be a Ermine moth of some kind.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I know that Google is not my friend but I did search Ermine moths. The Apple Ermine appears to possibly be what you have. They originated in Europe but like many other pests have somehow made it to America. Very similar to our hated tent caterpillar moths. They can and will defoliate fruit trees.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I asked my daughter to identify it - she has her masters in Entomology. She says its a salt marsh moth. The caterpillars can cause skin irritation so you should be careful. It is beautiful though.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I'm thinking it looks very similar to a Gypsy moth I saw recently in upstate NY. They have caused terrible, terrible damage. If is is, Get rid of it quick!!

    ReplyDelete