Most of the time when I take walks in the woods or along the river I spend a great deal of time looking under leaves in search of caterpillars and insect eggs. As I walked along the Shenandoah River a few days ago I paid particular attention to spice bush because, frankly it just smells so good and I love to touch it to release its spicy scent. It is also a particular favorite of Spicebush Swallowtail and a few other insects.
I was rewarded with this eggs mass that looks like a bunch of eggs shellacked together.
Sometimes I can use my hand lens and take a photo through it to get good close ups.
It is a Zelus egg cluster from the hemipteran order. I think more specifically it is a Zelus luridus in the Reduviidae family, commonly called Assassin Bug.
Oh squirrel, you DO find the most fascinating things! Beautiful, too. Thanks for letting us see what you saw.
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