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Pityococcus rugulosus lifecycle
0. Introduction
1. Egg (this set)
2. Hatchling crawler

This linked image set is of eggs taken from one of a cluster of Pityococcus rugulosus egg masses collected on 24APR2016 within the web of a Pococera sp. larva on a Pinus edulis (pinyon) tree on Embudito Trl. (No. 192) at 6983 ft elevation in the Sandia Crest 7.5’ quadrangle, Sandia Mountains, Bernalillo Co., NM. They were left to develop at room temperature until 04MAY2016 for these images, by which time the eyespots shown had developed. The images in this set are of different eggs. Images of eggs as they appear earlier, along with the entire egg mass and nest are posted in the female's final image set Nesting female.

The eggs hatched within a couple days of the appearance of such spots. Indeed, many had already hatched at the time these images were taken. The final image in this set is of an egg in the process of hatching. It has become wrinkled due to its wriggling to get out. It was immobilized or recently killed by exposure to toluene vapor for this images (stacked imaging requires a stationary subject).

This image is from a CombineZP processed stack of 311 images with a 1.8 µm step taken with a Mitutoyo BD Plan Apo 50×/0.55 ∞/0 mm microscope objective + Nikon 200 mm F4 AIS telephoto lens + Nikon D810 camera (magnification 50×; technique described here).

The main pages for each linked image set documenting a stage of development for this species are linked here: