July 26th, 2006
loss of face
Can you guess what this is?
I found it on a milkweed leaf in the container where I’m keeping the Monarch caterpillar that I wrote about earlier today.
This afternoon, I happened to check on the caterpillar, and saw something very tiny sitting on a leaf inside the container. I got my 15X loupe out and took at look at the “thing” and saw pretty much exactly what you see in the above photo. Pretty neat, isn’t it?
I then took a closer look at the caterpillar, and discovered that it had molted and its old “skin” was curled up nearby. I got out my camera and photographed the above through the loupe. That’s the old caterpillar head capsule — I guess you could think of it as its face. I thought I’d get a few shots of the rest of the molted skin, but by the time I finished photographing the molted head capsule, I discovered that the caterpillar was rapidly consuming the shed skin – no doubt it’s quite nutritious and high in protein. I’m quite amazed at how quickly it ate everything — probably less than a minute. However, I did notice that it left the sharp, black claws from the thoracic legs. You can see them on the leaf next to the caterpillar in this photo below.
I re-measured the caterpillar, having measured it earlier today, and it seems to be a little over 25mm now. It must have exploded out of its outer wrappings like a jack-in-the-box when it molted. All quite fascinating!
[Edit: I’ve just re-measured the caterpillar on the morning of July 27, and it’s at least 30mm now…perhaps even a little longer.]
Tags: Monarch caterpillar, molting
July 26th, 2006 at 10:27 pm
As always, your photos give me a new insight into the small world of insects. There is so much to appreciate when you get down on their level. It makes me feel positively crude.
I like the title of the post.
July 27th, 2006 at 12:31 am
Mark – I feel much the same way about insects — we are missing out on so much because we are focussed on our own larger worldview. It takes time to learn to look at the world in a different way. However, the reward is that it’s like being given a whole new world to explore.
July 27th, 2006 at 9:52 am
That’s just great observation and photography, Bev. I had the impression they ate their exoskeletons, but have never seen it, nor did I know they left their little claws out of the feast. Very neat.
July 27th, 2006 at 11:38 am
Wayne – Thanks! I thought it was so interesting that the caterpillar left the feet. Don says it must be rather like not eating shrimp tails. What amazed me was that face. It looked like a tiny drop of water on the milkweed leaf as it was so translucent – but when I looked at it through the loupe… wow!
July 27th, 2006 at 12:14 pm
Heh – I love Don’s characterization of shrimp tails. HOW DO THEY KNOW THIS??? Isn’t that funny?
I’m really impressed how well you got the face photograph through the loupe. We have something like that, but I’ve never tried to photograph through it. Do you recall where you got it?
Pablo asked about photography through a magnifying device, and I answered only only my experience about using dissecting microscopes, but your efforts strike me as much more “in the field friendly” than carting a ten-pound (4.54 kg) dissecting scope around.
July 27th, 2006 at 12:33 pm
Wayne – Yes, exactly… how do they know?! Do they try one of the claws and think… “Yuck!! This thing is inedible!” (??)
The loupe came from the Lee Valley Tools store here in Ottawa (they do mail order to Canada and the US as well). I’m sure it must be available elsewhere though. Here’s a link to the item — hopefully that link works. The loupe has a small LED light that shines light from one side. It works relatively well. I’ve photographed things indoors in the evening and get good results. When shooting outdoors during the day, I can angle the loupe so that sunlight comes in through the clear plastic base thing that protects the lens (that’s not too visible in the photo of the loupe, but you can kind of see it below the black casing). To photograph through it, I’ve been using the CP4500 as you really do have to have the camera lens close to the loupe — just as if you were looking through the loupe (your eye has to be close to the lens). I hold the CP4500 lens against the loupe — it works very well as the loupe’s lens is recessed below a tapering, ridged housing and it just happens that the lens of the CP4500 sits almost perfectly against the outer edge of the housing recess — so I can hold the thing very steady while shooting. I’ll try to put up a few other experimental shots sometime soon. It does give you just that extra bit of oomph above what the macro mode on the CP4500 can do, which is very useful for truly tiny things — and yes, it would probably beat carrying a dissecting scope around! (-:
July 27th, 2006 at 12:36 pm
That looks great – thanks for the URL, Bev. It isn’t what Glenn keeps (on a landyard around his neck, of all things), but I’m sending it to him to see what he thinks.
Thanks for the hints on what you did. That really was a fantastic face!
July 27th, 2006 at 12:40 pm
Wayne – It’s really not a bad little lens. There’s some distortion around the edges, so the best view is near the center, but I think that’s true of most loupes — and what the heck, it’s not like it’s some high-priced precision instrument. It does acceptable shots of things I can’t otherwise get a decent photo of, so as an add-on tool for my cameras, heck, i think it’s a pretty cool little gizmo.
July 27th, 2006 at 1:42 pm
Bev, I myself am a great proponent of what works. And I love clever things.
July 27th, 2006 at 2:14 pm
Wow, Bev. This is informative and gorgeous at the same time. My favorite. I had no idea that caterpillars shed their “skin.” I am going to read up on the loupe that you are using. The first time I took a good photograph of an eagle, I was using an old 2x digital camera, and I shot through the binoculars I held up to the lens. It worked, but it was very clumsy. I love gizmos that bring things closer. Wonderfully done.
July 27th, 2006 at 4:26 pm
Wayne – I feel much the same. I really like optics gadgets. One of my all-time favourite little toys is one of those Micronta 30X pocket microscopes. I’ve had so much enjoyment out of that thing over the years. Can’t remember for sure, but I think it cost me all of $12.95 or so.
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Robin – I’ve shot similar photos through binoculars and a very inexpensive field scope. In fact, that’s what I’ve used to shoot reasonably decent photos of the moon. As just mentioned to Wayne, I love things neat little optics gadgets. I don’t own anything expensive or impressive, but enjoy magnifying glasses and such things and have several for looking at different kinds of objects. As discussed before, I love neat rocks and enjoy looking at them “up close” using various pocket microscopes and the like.
July 28th, 2006 at 2:09 pm
[…] Before I go on to post my “main” post for today, here’s an update on the Monarch caterpillar being kept in the living room. It has grown considerably since yesterday morning, when I posted a brief update on the piece about the caterpillar’s molt. As of yesterday morning, the caterpillar measured about 30mm in length (over an inch). As of this morning, it looks to be about 45mm (about 1 3/4 inches), and its black antennae are looking much longer now. It’s eating like mad this morning and blazed through most of a couple of milkweed leaves last night. I’m just heading out to get some fresh leaves to replenish its supply as soon as I post this morning’s pieces to the blog. […]