It's May 24th at around 8:15am. I am out walking in my favourite woods when I spot this tiny egg. It looks freshly laid judging by the pale colour, and the shape is fairly distinctive to me. This is a bug which to my complete amazement made headlines on the BBC when it was spotted in Nottinghamshire as late as 2015:
'An extremely rare insect has been found during a challenge to identify 1,000 organisms at a park in Nottinghamshire.'
'Tim Sexton, from Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust, said the find was "significant" and was the first time it had ever been recorded in the county.'
Anyhow, here's the egg that Johnny spotted...
And here's the progression over the next few days...
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| May 27 Red areas appear inside the egg |
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| May 27 |
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| May 29 some darkening |
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| May 30 |
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| May 31 It rolls over! |
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| May 31 All is well with further darkening |
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| May 31 A cavity begins to open |
The following morning, the tiny nymph of a Box Bug (Gonocerus acuteangulatus) puts in an appearance...
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| June 01 at around 10am |
By the next morning, it had already darkened and the abdomen become less squat.
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| June 02 |
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| June 02 |
Very little changed regards appearance over the next week or so...
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| June 11 |
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| June 15 |
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June 17
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Then 2 days later, it moulted...
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| June 19 moult |
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| June 19 |
It was at this point that I thought it was time for the youngster to leave home and make his/her way in the world. So pleased to have had the opportunity to observe the first few days of this terrific little insect though.
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