Dear actias members,
A few days ago a found a dead morpho peleides butterfly. I took it home since it was in a good shape. When i looked closer I saw green eggs in the butterflies back. Since the eggs are still in the body of the butterfly does this mean the eggs are fertilised? And if so, is there a change the eggs will hatch? And if the eggs are dead, will the butterfly rot or can you still keep it? I hope you can help me 
thank you,
naomi
Morpho peleides eggs dead?
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Hello Naomi,
first I do not understand your thoughts about the fertilized eggs. Usually you could think eggs a female layed have to be fertilized. But why should the eggs inside the females body also be fertilized? Even in the first case and when you saw the Mating sometimes you dont get a good fertilisation rate. I am not sure if eggs inside a fertilized female could hatch. I have heard that the eggs become fertilized during the laying and not directly at the mating. This makes sense because otherwise females which spread the laying over weaks would have problems with hatching caterpillars inside their body. So I dont think you will get caterpillars out of those eggs. Of course you could use this butterfly in your collection. Usually butterflies get killed directly after the finishing of their wings. So females will always have eggs (at least Spezies like Saturniidae etc...) which do not rot in the collection if dried good. I do not have a collection so I can not guarantee that everything is explained perfectly but I hope it is enough to help you.
Best regards, David
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Hello Naomi,
first I do not understand your thoughts about the fertilized eggs. Usually you could think eggs a female layed have to be fertilized. But why should the eggs inside the females body also be fertilized? Even in the first case and when you saw the Mating sometimes you dont get a good fertilisation rate. I am not sure if eggs inside a fertilized female could hatch. I have heard that the eggs become fertilized during the laying and not directly at the mating. This makes sense because otherwise females which spread the laying over weaks would have problems with hatching caterpillars inside their body. So I dont think you will get caterpillars out of those eggs. Of course you could use this butterfly in your collection. Usually butterflies get killed directly after the finishing of their wings. So females will always have eggs (at least Spezies like Saturniidae etc...) which do not rot in the collection if dried good. I do not have a collection so I can not guarantee that everything is explained perfectly but I hope it is enough to help you.
Best regards, David
hello david,
thank you for the answer, it helped a lot Now I can keep the butterfly without worrying about the eggs haha
greetings, naomi -
Ova has to pass through the female to be fertilized, I brought up the same question once in another forum, when I
found a female Papilio zeliacaon, which had expired, even the one egg stuck to her abdomen did not hatch. I've never
had an issue with dispatching unpaired females, the unlaid ova simply dry up with the rest of the insect.
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