SOUTH AUSTRALIAN BUTTERFLIES

Ogyris subterrestris subterrestris Field   (Mallee Bronze Azure)

Photography by R. Grund

Newly laid egg cluster

Photography by L. Hunt

Closeup of eggs

An old group of empty egg shells

Closeup of new egg and an empty old egg shell

Photography by R. Grund

Egg cluster that has been destroyed by a tiny wasp parasitoid Oencyrtus sp.
The tiny adult wasp lays its eggs inside the Ogyris butterfly egg, and the ensuing wasp larvae eat
the contents of the egg.  They pupate inside the egg and the resultant wasps emerge by cutting a hole through
the side of the Ogyris egg, and not through the top where the butterfly larva would normally have emerged