Eggs on pinyon needle

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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Butterflies and Moths (Lepidoptera) » Owlet Moths and kin (Noctuoidea) » Owlet Moths (Noctuidae) » Unknown noctuid eggs, hatchlings, or pupae

Photo#1039621

Copyright © 2015 Edward L. Ruden

Eggs on pinyon needle

Sandia Mountains, Bernalillo County, New Mexico, USA
February 8, 2015
Size: 0.76 mm diameter

Download high resolution image here.

I found these eggs as shown on a pinyon needle (Pinus edulis) on Embudito Trl. (No. 192) at about 7000 ft elevation in the Sandia Mountains, Bernalillo Co., NM. They resemble those thought to be Noctuoidea (Lepidoptera) in another post. I thought, though, that the distinctive ornate sculpture and host might help narrow it down. I will attempt to raise them to see what they are.

This image is from a CombineZP processed stack of 83 images with a 28 µm step taken with a Mitutoyo M Plan APO 5×/0.14 ∞/0 mm microscope objective + Nikon 105 mm F2.5 AI portrait lens + Nikon D300 camera (magnification 2.625×; technique described here).

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Contributed by Edward L. Ruden on 10 February, 2015 - 10:01pm
Last updated 30 January, 2021 - 10:00pm

Moved

Moved from ID Request.

… Edward L. Ruden, 11 February, 2015 - 9:58pm

The distinctive ornate scupture...

is what identifies them as Noctuidae, but unfortunately a lot of noctuid eggs look like this. Also unfortunately, a number of noctuids have the habit of laying their eggs on random objects that may not be their host plant. For what it's worth, the HOSTS database lists no noctuids with Pinus edulis has a host plant, but quite a few with Pinus as a host plant. I'm sure that list could be whittled down a lot based on the location, but raising them is definitely your best bet--and be sure to offer them an assortment of plants from the area, just in case.

… Charley Eiseman, 11 February, 2015 - 7:06am

Thanks

I will move it to Noctuidae "Unknown eggs, hatchlings, or pupae" until we know more. The site is too remote to supply frequently with fresh vegetation, but I have a pinyon in my yard. It'll have to do. I saw a spent cocoon of sorts in the pinyon with the eggs. It was just a loose jumble of silk fibers bending several needles together around an empty ~1 cm pupa molt to half-conceal it. Could that have been a Noctuid? I forget whether or not I pulled it off to inspect more closely. It may still be there.

… Edward L. Ruden, 11 February, 2015 - 9:57pm

Cocoon

There are lots of noctuids out there with varying habits, so anything is possible, but in general I associate eggs like this with species that burrow into the ground to pupate. So my guess would be that the cocoon was unrelated, but I could be wrong.

… Charley Eiseman, 11 February, 2015 - 10:41pm

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