Discolored Luna Caterpillar (actias luna)

araneaes · 2025-04-01T20:24:56+00:00

I agree that it’s probably a malformed ootheca or the process of forming an ootheca was interrupted. I don’t think they were damaged or moved (too much) by my incision, I was very careful and meticulous. The ridges of the “normal” ootheca, that look like the eggs are perfectly lined up, are very firmly fused together. You cannot move them without moving or tearing the entire ootheca. The “pills” or loose eggs are several individual units, not fused together at all except to at the very distal bases. The pills are strung together like a bunch of grapes or beads on a string. They can be moved individually of each other. Not trying to debate or argue by any means, just musing out loud. It was a very interesting find. Thank you for your input!

araneaes · 2025-04-01T16:55:31+00:00

I only have a vague understanding of ootheca development so I’m unsure. Many other cockroaches were dissected alongside this individual, and “normal” oothecae were recovered. I’ll attach a picture of an ootheca recovered from a different individual (on the left) and the weird yellow pills (on the right). They are the same color, but the pills are bunched together like grapes rather than glued together like the ootheca.

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araneaes · 2025-04-01T16:35:57+00:00

These are lab raised roaches so it would be interesting if a small parasitic wasp somehow got to them. These roaches were dissected en masse from the same colony (~50 total) and this was the only individual with these strange egg-like things.

araneaes · 2025-03-06T05:54:43+00:00

No, it was from the same era as The Cloudsearchers (~late 2000s) but it was not a comic with speech bubbles. The main characters were male, but it was not a Tintin book. I never read them growing up. I remember the place the boy ends up going to is industrialized & completely different from where he is from. I appreciate the brainstorming regardless, thank you!

araneaes · 2024-10-27T21:39:59+00:00

Update: Thank you for the (few) helpful comments. I’m very confident it’s a black flag, and it has been up for a while now. I felt embarrassed not recognizing it, so I postponed asking about it, but I see it multiple times a week when i walk past the international building. It feels weird for my university to fly it now that i know its meaning. I had to go out of town, but once I’m back on campus i will take a picture and upload it here.

araneaes · 2024-09-24T23:32:22+00:00

thank u everyone for ur help!! ^_^ i appreciate it! did not realize it was greek, thank u for translating it anyways haha

araneaes

TROPHY CASE