Sunday, October 4, 2015

Oates's Marathon Innings

Today I at last reached the 1000 landmark - i.e. 1000 Purple Emperor eggs and larvae in the wild, with a pair of 3rd instar larvae close by on the same spray, on the edge of Savernake Forest. 

Unusual to find two together as, surprise surprise, they hate each other and squabble like mad - if one invades the other's leaf they lock horns and try to wrestle each other off...  


Also found a deceased larva (which counts in the 1000) - 


Note the shiny egg case base at 2 o'clock from the head.

It would be nice to think I could retire now, but I can't, so I took a fresh guard, uttered a profanity against the Two-tailed Pasha and batted on.  For those who like statistics, the innings took 40 years, lasted over 1000 hours, and included one nine, two sevens, three sixes and 24 fours...  Over half were found in four glorious seasons.

Can someone please certify me...

3 comments:

irisscientist said...

Matthew. This pair of larvae are 2nd instar. The black horns clearly indicate this!!!

irisscientist said...
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BB said...

It was a pleasure to be batting with you Matthew when you reached this unique milestone in such unusual circumstances, two together on dark mildewed leaves- well done- fine innings sir!!!
Kind Regards
Mark