Bugs - Life cycle
Mar 3rd, 2009 by Karthik
It was a Saturday morning and I was photographing a pretty caterpillar on a jasmine creeper in my garden. Just when I had finished shooting the caterpillar, I spied upon a very interesting pattern on a palm leaf nearby. On close observation, I noticed that there were 11 dull white eggs. These formed the centre of the pattern. The vividly coloured nymphs (young ones of bugs) that had emerged from them formed a ring around the eggs!
I quickly set up my camera to take pictures. Looking through the camera, I was reminded of the great cricket huddle that one gets to see the Indian team indulging in. I noticed that all the nymphs were facing the inside of the circle! All the eggs were neatly cut on the top and most of them had the “lid” still in place. Having taken pictures, I looked amid the plants in the garden and found another clutch of a dozen eggs. I was amazed at the ability of the bug to lay eggs in a symmetrical fashion. I did not spare the eggs; I took pictures of them too.
And, soon, I saw the adult bug and photographed it! This meant that, in a span of 15 minutes, I had photographed the entire life cycle of a bug - all of this within a few square feet in my small garden!
Bugs, like butterflies and beetles, do not have a four-stage life cycle; they lack the pupal stage. When the nymphs emerge from the eggs they look like miniature adults and lack wings. They moult a few times as they grow and become adult bugs!
wow..you have told us their life cycle in less than 35 mins..thats wonderful..there is such a beautiful world right in our own backyard and thanks for taking us there
Great pics…I am amazed that you can record the life cycle just sitting in your own backyard….I liked the bug huddle shot..do you think our cricket team learnt the art from these
bugs!!!
Wish you could take a video shot as well….action shots are also interesting…
Happy bugging…
Bhanu
What a fabulous post! Your garden seems to be a very very interesting place - a naturalist’s true retreat! Thank you for these informative pieces.
Cheers,
Uma
Great post…as usual! Do these bugs have a name or are they just…beautiful bugs?
Your macro work is outstanding…and you are generally standing out in your garden when you seem to get such interesting stuff!
Thank you for coming by and leaving your comment.
Deepa - Like all creatures this too will have a name. I need to get it identified. Until then…it is a “beautiful bug”!
Hi Karthik, Thanks for the tour of the little bug world. Its like of one those pixair bug movies on still pictures. Wonderful commentory keep it going.
Wow interesting Karthik. The top of those eggs seems to have a thinner membrane to enable the nymphs break free easy.
One of the first and few pictures and detailed write-ups i have read about the life history of bugs. It is most common for us to only look and talk about Silk Cotton Bugs only. So this was refreshingly NEW and with the high quality photography, reading & learning is real FUN! Thanks and keep it coming!
Sorry, catching up with this post quite late.
Wonderful post. Life on earth is so much more amazing as we go macro. They all have more wonderful stories to tell us.
Cute and informative post. Pays to keep our eyes open all the time! thanks.
The first picture is just too good .. Need to wait to see it in a better size.
Superb photos! Thanks for posting such rare-to-see things.
These pictures are amazing. I truly haven’t seen anything like this before.
Lovely photos! I found a similar nymph formation in my yard (USA, Pacific NW) last week and a friend helping me try to ID the bugs found your blog post. I wish I’d taken a closer picture: http://tinyurl.com/mvyc89
Kartik, It is a fascinating site. Your photographs and observations are excellent. Would like to trek out with you sometime just to marvel at the finer beauty of nature. Best wishes
these bugs are really amazing!.
have you ever found the name of these bugs?..
Lovely images & a very informative post. Your close-up flash is a rockstar like you..