these are giant swallowtail butterfly eggs and caterpillar.1st pic has a dime to show size.smallest caterpillars i have seen.tom
Eggs are smaller than the head of a pin. Nice capture.
It is quite common among lepidoptera for newly-hatched larvae to immediately eat their egg cases before starting on their host plant. Sometimes unhatched eggs are eaten by ravenous larvae. The eggs are approximately 1-mm diameter, and the caterpillars are about 2-mm long.
Pipevine Swallowtail Butterfly Eggs, approx 20:1 mag. (20x life-size).
Just-Hatched Pipevine Swallowtail Caterpillars, approx 12:1 mag (12x life-size).
colo43
Loc: Eastern Plains of Colorado
amazing shots, all of them
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