2018 September 23

 

   Jochen Möhr writes:  Today, a Cabbage White came up straight from the road 20m below.  She went straight to my garden where new kale plants are sprouting, and she immediately started laying eggs.  

She remained at it for quite a few minutes, allowing me to get back inside, unpack the camera from the travel luggage and go back and capture her as well as one of the eggs she laid.  The first butterfly egg of this autumn?

 

   Jeremy Tatum writes: Almost certainly.  It may also have been the first adult butterfly of the season.  I saw two Cabbage Whites today in the Martindale Valley.  The first was at 2:05 pm.

 

   Jochen was all packed and just about to go on holiday to Germany.  Libby Avis writes:  Unpacking your travel luggage to get it is real dedication!     Yes, indeed it is!

 

Female Cabbage White Pieris rapae (Lep.: Pieridae)  Jochen Möhr

 

Ovum (egg) of Cabbage White Pieris rapae (Lep.: Pieridae)  Jochen Möhr

 

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  Here is a third instar caterpillar of a Large Yellow Underwing, reared from one of the 1450 ova shown on September 1.

 

Large Yellow Underwing Noctua pronuba (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jeremy Tatum