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Home » Forums » Moth Forum

An Oak Beauty laid her eggs on our heavily trafficked concrete driveway.

Marica kindly directed me to this forum for advice as to how to manage the situation. But things got so hairy that we used a razor blade to lift the cluster onto an oak leaf and relocate the eggs into a sheltered place in the backyard near oak trees. What might we have done to better the chances of their survival? Thanks for any information you may give us. And thanks Marcia for directing us over here. I didn't know these forums existed.
http://bugguide.net/node/view/1081241
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Contributed by Cathy Wilson on 10 June, 2015 - 9:22am

Egg laying
Very little is written in the scientific journals about the Oak Beauty (Phaeoura quernaria) pertaining to laying eggs. Harry Engle in the Canadian Entomologist in 1908 complained that “...although I carried the female to extensive forests, I failed to secure fertile eggs....On May 31st a belated female was found and secured to a branch of a bush leaning against an Oak. The following morning several clusters of eggs were found deposited on the bark of the tree, and these fortunately provided fertile.”

Although this is hardly scientific evidence, it is possible the females use tree bark to lay their eggs. It is also possible your eggs are not fertile. Mr. Engle goes on to describe the physical characteristics of the egg and mentions that eggs deposited on June 1st did not hatch out until Jun 16-17th. Mr. Engle also mentions that they feed on Oak, so it’s assumed they crawled, after hatching, to an Oak leaf.

Most of the literature contain arguments on the correct name for the Oak Beauty:
Amphidasia quernaria, Eubyha quernaria, Nacophora phigaliaria, N. sperataria, N. paenulataria, N. cupidaria, N. atrescens. and others. I have not waded through all the literature, but I hope this information helps.
… Lee Penner, 13 June, 2015 - 8:30am login or register to post comments

 
Lee! Thank you so much!
Truly fascinating business. So much we don't know and are left to conjecture and wonder.
I appreciate your help with trying to sort it all out.
… Cathy Wilson, 13 June, 2015 - 12:06pm login or register to post comments

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