tell, try, do: Visitors to the Rose............

Guess who did this?

"Ahhhh!!!! they didn’t leave the rose plants too" My mom shrieked as she watered the rose plant in our house. “Look those silly insects have eaten the leaves of the rose plant too, first the kadi patta (curry leaves) and now the rose plant". The moment I heard this, my joy knew no bounds, I rushed out at top speed hoping to find a caterpillar yet wondering if that is possible. Anyways I was curious to know who this new visitor to our garden was.

My mom, clearly displeased with my happiness about her rose plant being eaten, warned me that kapipatta was ok but no experiments with the rose plant. I smiled and said nothing. I could clearly recollect her face when her full bloom kadipatta plant stood their just a single stem now and I assured her how soon it would be full of leaves again. I couldn’t imagine how this assurance would work with the rose plant. So I simply smiled.

Well! neat work I must say! This so called caterpillar had cut semicircles so neatly from the leaf edge. The leaves looked artistic to me. They formed a lovely pattern. Immediately I was reminded of fractals. As I peered down at the leaves clicking pictures, I saw a bee buzz by. hmmm…. A bee!!!

Surprisingly enough as I searched for this leaf artist, I found out that this was actually the work of a bee. A leafcutter bee. A bee having fancy for leaves?? wow!! ’Curiouser and curiouser! this bee doesn’t feast on these leaves then why does it cut off these semicircles? Surely it doesn’t consider the leaves to be its drawing board and itself as a great artist. Then what would it do with these leaves?

The next finding was also pretty cool. It actually weaves out a cradle for its eggs from these leaves.

Here also, most of the work is done by the females. This mummy bee digs a tunnel like nest in rotten woods etc, collects all these leaves and lines the tunnel making nest cells for her eggs. In these she lays her eggs and also sees to it that her new born have sufficient supply of nutrition as they grow to come out the next season.

I did not get to see the nest or the nest cell. Hope I do one day. But for today these patterns added to my delight.

A few days later....................

Next visitor: Enemy or a friend?

It wasn’t long after the leaf cutter bee had done her artistic job that I found one more visitor to a rose plant. I somehow had assumed that butterflies or moths won’t lay eggs on the rose plant as it’s thorny. To break this belief, nature had its way. A few days later I found a rose plant in our building garden with leaves eaten in a haphazard manner unlike the artistic exact semicircles of the leaf cutter bee. luckily for me the doer rested quietly on the adjoining leaf. It was just about a centimeter long, black and white hairy caterpillar. I wonder who this visitor will turn into? a moth or a butterfly? and what is its name?