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Various species of butterfly and moth caterpillars (larvae) behave differently from each other when they emerge from thier eggshell. A Monarch hatchling turns around and immediately eats its eggshell. If unhatched eggs are nearby, a Monarch caterpillar may then turn around and eat the unhatched eggs. A Monarch caterpillar hatchling will even eat an egg just before a hatchling caterpillar emerges. Some butterflies lay eggs in a tower, clump, or mound. Long-tailed Skipper butterflies lay their eggs in clumps or towers. When hatching, these caterpillars simply eat thier way out of their eggshell and do not eat the entire eggshell. Click on photos to enlarge for better view. |
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starts to eat its eggshell after hatching. |
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six out of ten eggs hatched |
caterpillar hatching |
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an undeveloped Monarch egg |
several partially and fully eaten unhatched eggs. Photo is extra large & may take a few seconds to load. |
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is all that is left of this Monarch larvae which was preparing to hatch. |
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