Butterfly egg - Pieris Brassicae (Large White)

[Beatsy]

I think these butterflies normally lay their eggs in clusters, but I watched this one dotting about laying singles a couple of days ago. It was being (apparently) hassled by another Large White at the time, so perhaps that's why. Anyway, I borrowed this one for a stack (it's now back in the garden, anchored next to the plant I got it from).

Stack of 180 images, full frame, shot with a 20x Mitty on 135mm Vivitar/Komine for approximately 13.5x magnification. Lit from high up in front with a single flat-panel Trond lamp. A more diffused lighting setup somewhat obscured the details - this worked best. Pmax stack in Zerene, cropped square.

It's such a common, simple, tiny thing but it sure raises questions (for me). Why the lattice structure for one? What purpose(s) does that serve? But the thing that intrigues me most is the "glue" sticking it to the leaf. What is that? Super-fast drying, sticks to vegetation, strong and completely weather proof. That would be a very handy glue to have


A shot for context and scale. The leaf is wrapped around the edge of a piece of cork mat for positioning on the rig. That's the tip of my forefinger on the left. Fortunately, I don't use a fingerprint ID for anything

[rolsen]

Nice stack and good lightning, also like the subject very much.

[Roel Wijtmans]

Aha, such a smart solution to put it on a piece of cork! Thanks for the tip and the nice picture!