Brown Hairstreak 'egg-laying'

[David M]

I watched a female Brown Hairstreak for some while in Pembrokeshire yesterday. She did everything one would expect from this species on an egg laying sortie....except actually deposit any eggs!



She was on the right larval host plant, she crawled about testing likely spots....then, she would arch her abdomen as if to lay an egg but nothing emerged.

This happened on four successive occasions as I followed her round.

Does anyone have any ideas as to what this might be due to?

[Neil Hulme]

Hi David,
She's just changing her mind a lot! Females can be very choosy and it's quite common to go through this testing process many times before a satisfactory spot is chosen. I've watched a female go through the motions for 10 minutes or more before finally squeezing one out.
Neil

[David M]

Thanks, Neil.

It's the first time I've seen this type of behaviour.