 Our Smerinthus ophthalmica eggs have become pharate and are about to hatch. This stock originated locally here in Albany, California. Our 11 day old Smerinthus ophthalmica eggs are pharate and are about to hatch. The eggshell is completely translucent now, revealing the larva inside. The larva's body is curled up into a two loop spiral; the first part is the head, thorax and upper abdomen, and the second part is the lower abdomen which bears the prolegs and horn. From observing the changes over the days, it is now clear that the milky white edges with a brown ring that was previously present has become the abdomen - you can see now that the brown has diluted into a pinkish color along the center of the dorsal abdomen of the larva. The yellowish center before has now become the second loop in the spiral, the lower abdomen. When examined very closely, it is possible to see all the larval structures within the egg in great detail. Some of the large, obvious structures are the head (the greyish round portion), abdomen (the yellowish white and pink portions), and horn (the orangish tail-like structure). If you look a little closer on the head, you can see a few small spots that are the eyes (obvious on the eggs third, fourth, and fifth from the left), as well as the mandibles (obvious on the egg fourth from the left) and cleavage line (obvious on the egg fifth from the left). Looking extremely closely on the ventral abdomen, you can see a row of four slightly darker patches which are the prolegs. Since the eggs are pharate (the larva inside is fully developed and is waiting for the right time of day to hatch), you can actually observe larval movement inside egg. Below are two close-ups shots of the eggs taken a second after another, and if you focus the on the one in the center, you can see that the larva inside has moved as it is in a slightly different position in the two photos. In the first photo, the horn is slightly more curled and the head is fully exposed, but in the second photo, the horn is more relaxed and the larva has moved its abdomen to cover its head. The pharate eggs of this species are truly amazing to look at as it is very interesting to see the larval structures inside. These eggs are so close to hatching that they should definitely hatch tomorrow morning.  Authors
Alan Liang
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Timeline 2012–2017
Albany, California This timeline is a series of daily posts recording our observations on and experiences with various insects in Albany California and surrounding areas, from 2012-2017. Since we did not publish this site until 2016, posts before that were constructed retroactively. Starting in August 2017, we moved to Ithaca, New York; posts from there on can be viewed at Timeline 2017-present: Ithaca, New York. Archives (1,011)
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Full Species List (Alphabetical by scientific name) Note: - Not every species we encounter is necessarily presented on this site, rather a selection of those that were of particular interest to us and that we felt were worth documenting. - We can't guarantee that all species have been identified accurately, particularly taxa we are not as familiar with. Lepidoptera Actias luna Adelpha californica Agraulis vanillae Allancastria cerisyi Antheraea mylitta Antheraea polyphemus Anthocharis sara Argema mimosae Attacus atlas Battus philenor hirsuta Bombyx mori Caligo atreus Callosamia promethea Coenonympha tullia california Citheronia regalis Cricula trifenestrata Danaus plexippus Eacles imperialis Erynnis tristis Estigmene acrea Eumorpha achemon Eupackardia calleta Furcula cinereoides Heliconius erato Heliconius hecale Heliconius sapho Heliconius sara Hyalophora cecropia Hyalophora columbia Hyalophora euryalus Hylephila phyleus Hyles lineata Junonia coenia Langia zenzeroides formosana Lophocampa maculata Manduca sexta Morpho peleides Nymphalis antiopa Orgyia vetusta Orthosia hibisci quenquefasciata Pachysphinx modesta Papilio cresphontes Papilio eurymedon Papilio glaucus Papilio machaon oregonius Papilio multicaudata Papilio polyxenes asterius Papilio rumiko Papilio rutulus Papilio zelicaon Phyciodes mylitta Phyciodes pulchella Pieris rapae Plejebus acmon Poanes melane Polites sabuleti Polygonia satyrus Pyrgus communis Rothschildia jacobaeae Samia cynthia advena Samia ricini Smerinthus cerisyi Smerinthus ophthalmica Strymon melinus Trichoplusia ni Uresephita reversalis Vanessa annabella Vanessa atalanta Vanessa cardui Unidentified Lepidoptera Hybrids Papilio glaucus × Papilio rutulus Papilio polyxenes asterius × Papilio zelicaon Orthoptera Melanoplus devastator Phaneroptera nana Pristoceuthophilus pacificus Scudderia mexicana Trimerotropis pallidipennis Phasmatodea Carausius morosus Phyllium giganteum Mantodea Mantis religiosa Phyllocrania paradoxa Hymenoptera Apis mellifera Bombus vosnesenskii Brachymeria ovata Linepithema humile Pediobius sp. Polistes dominula Xylocopa varipuncta Unidentified Diptera Lucilia sericata Unidentified Hemiptera Brochymena sp. Leptoglossus sp. Nezara viridula Odonata Argia vivida Libellula croceipennis Coleoptera Coccinella septempunctata Cycloneda polita Diabrotica undecimpunctata Hippodamia convergens Araneae (Class: Arachnida) Araneus diadematus Phidippus johnsoni |
