Died unborn (beware not for the faint hearted)

[Deleted member 3428]

I had some really old stick insect eggs that didn't hatch so I thought I would open one and check out what was going on and to see if they were fertile or not. This is what I found. The egg is about 4mm long so I am dealing with a tiny egg which is now well over a 18mths old.
I broke through the shell to reveal the membrane. The content had been fertile but hadn't made it through the final stage of hatching out, I did have about a 60% hatch rate from this batch of ova so I think 4 out of 10 must have gone this way.

You can see the way out as this is the head just underneath that circle.

The membrane fully exposed and very damp still so It never died through lack of moisture.

The mummified insect is exposed to the open air for the first time.

Definitely way past its sell by date. Bless.

 

[oldgit]

Cracking bit of Archaeology / examination, excellent photography as always

 

[babytiger]

Thanks for sharing those photos with us fascinating look into a baby stick insect in the egg poor wee thing

 

[ROFL2K9]

ewwwww that is gross!...... Interesting and well photographed, but GROSS!!

 

[eosjohn]

Very nice set there Alby, It doesn't matter how Gorey the subject is it's the detail that counts great shots.

 

[Big_Bill]

Fascinating.....
Cheers for sharing Alby

 

[dseered]

Wow, amazing subject and recording of it !

 

[Grandslammer]

Second pic looks very 'Jurassic Park'

 

[SpidersEye]

Fascinating images, really interesting to see (I'm fascinated by anything to do with invertebrates). I bet it took some patience to open those without damaging them.

Good, sharp images too

 

[Kim]

Fasinating.........just amazing, great set of shots.