why caterpillars eat their eggshells

[Rchees6057]

Not being a biochemist, I do not wish to do more than relate what I have always
understood to be true, namely that the eggshells are very rich in protein
(dunno what sort) and are consumed in order that this valuable resource be not
wasted.

In Stride, Martha Rosett Lutz wrote:

>This may be apocryphal, but I have heard that at least some species of lep
>larvae eat their eggshells to remove the 'evidence' and prevent parasitoids
>or predators from locating newly hatched larvae.  Not unlike some wild
>mammals that eat the placentas and other debris from the birth process,
>supposedly to remove things that might otherwise give predators a clue that
>a young and vulnerable individual of the prey species was nearby.

Roy Cheeseman



 
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