Attacus Easter eggs?

Renco

Hello all,

Since three days, one of my atlas female started laying eggs without glue on them.
It's a large female (28,5 cm wingspan) and she was so swollen up, you could almost count the eggs through her abdomen.
She mated for two days so the eggs must be fertilized.
Does anyone have experience with-, or knows the cause of these strange looking eggs?

Renco

[Blockierte Grafik: http://www.vlindertjes.eu/Overige%20bestanden/Attacus%20atlas%20easter%20eggs.jpg]

Saturn

Is it possible that they are unfertilized...?

Renco

I don't think so, they were coupled for 36 or 40 hours and if they are coupled for that long, my eggs have always been fertile.

Fleischmann

Last year I had the same problem with one of my A. isabellae females. But the ova were fertilized and 68% of the caterpillars hatched. They really looked nice. They were of a slightly blue color with little dark spots.

steve

Two years ago I raised about 130 atlas-larvae. The eggs looked like yours. I guess the female ran out of glue. But there was no difference between the white and brown eggs regarding the hatch rate.
Stefan

Bostjan Dvorak

Glue-less eggs are also often laid (resp. dropped) by A. pernyi females; no reason to worry about their fertilization. Maybe the air was rather dry. Easter egg-collection...

Nice wishes

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