Eggs is eggs

Cinnabar Moth

I found this Cinnabar Moth in the conservatory one morning a couple of days ago. I later noticed a small, light green patch on the plastic door.  On closer inspection it turned out to be tiny eggs.

Using almost Holmsian powers of deduction.... I linked the moth to the eggs. Sometimes in captivity moths will lay their eggs in inappropriate places.

The eggs  were  a  fairly  good match for pictures I'd seen of  Cinnabar  but not  an exact one.

Some eggs

In a further move, of the kind you normal only see at Detective School, I thought the only way to be sure was to put them on the Cinnabar food plant - Ragwort - and see what happens.

After another couple of days we were blessed with a happy event in the form tiny bouncing caterpillars (are you sure they were bouncing??  - ed).

Case closed. Game over.  We can all go home. Nothing to see people, etc etc.

It  will be interesting to document the stages in their development thusly:
Egg
1st instar larva
2nd instar larva
3rd instar larva
4rd instar larva
5th instar larva
Pupa
Adult

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