Eggs.....

....of a shield bug on a leaf of Woundwort, a wayside flowering plant, common on the verges around here.




There is a species of bug called the Woundwort Shield Bug, as here.....




which lives its entire life on this plant but I'm not sure these are its eggs, since I've seen other s/b eggs on the same plant but some of those are yellow/orange & some a sort of milky/clear colour.
There are either other species using the same plant or there is variation within the eggs of the one species.
I'm leaning to the latter theory, perhaps the eggs change appearance with age.....?
interestingly, the row of hook-things around the top of each egg indicate the "lid" which hinges open to allow the young to escape the egg case when hatching. I don't know what, if any, purpose these structures serve.


Both k5, off-camera diffused AF200T flash.
The eggs, 50mm reversed on 200mm, stack of 23in Combine ZP.
The bug, 100mm. D FA Macro,Tamron-F 1.4x Pz-AF converter, 31mm ext. tube.
Both elements 11.


Any thoughts you may wish to share will be most welcome.

Thanks for looking,

Roger.

Nicely done, as usual. And thanks for explaining about them. I've learned something new today, which makes it a good day.

A disturbing thought - from now on, sight of a pork pie will make me think of shield bug eggs.

Steve

There's always a price to pay, Steve!
Thanks for looking & your encouraging remarks,

Roger.

Funny, I thought they looked more like the woods used in crown green bowling.

True, Steve H.,

but wouldn't the little spikes stick in................?

Roger.

To the high standard we are coming to expect but not take for granted, Roger

Jon

Amazing colours on the bug and the flash diffusion has kept the detail and tones even across the subject. A fascinating image!

Now I'm not so sure about the burnt pork pies.....

Yes, Nigel.
The second one needed (even) more diffusion.
The stacking seems to have had an (even) more adverse effect on the highlights than usual.

Note to self:
Must try harder not to burn the pies!

Thanks for all your thoughts, Chaps.

Roger.

Very nicely done Roger and educational, for me, to boot.

The bug appears to be well trained: none of the ones I try to capture stick around long enough