Data: Egg masses found in a pond in British Columbia.

Send Ideas to: Larry

Identified:

Discussions:

• They look hemipteran to me.... Ellen B.

• Possibly eggs of a caterpillar in the genus Alsophila. USFS considers them a pest to trees and foliage (esp. spring and fall cankerworm, Alsophila pometaria). Not sure which species lives in BC. ...Jay C.

• I asked my friend Gale Ridge, an entomologist at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station. I sent her a link to the photo and this is what she had to say:
  Ellen,
  These eggs look like Giant Water Bug (Belostomatidae) eggs. You can see the eye spots. The post may have fooled a female in laying eggs on it rather than on a male. Since they are out of the water, we may be dealing with a tidal river situation where sea water is not present. ...Gale

• * what a sorry embarrassment for her! But, if it works, I suppose this is the kind of mistake on which evolutionary leaps forward are based. ...Frederick