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Im trying to find out what this is, see image below.

Im thinking these are either some insect eggs or some sort of mosslike plant.
The substance is stuck to a steel pillar, outside, about 5 feet above the ground.
The substance is found in the Netherlands in a wet meadow area.

The substance has multiple tiny cells or eggs, seems to be only 1 layer thick and has a soft/smooth feel to it.

unknown organism

Excuse me for the bad picture, my camera would not focus better because of the reflective surface of the pillar.

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I think this will be really tricky to answer, and it can probably be several different things. Insects can certainly produce egg clutches that are similar to this and usually in single/few layers. However, they are generally quite specific about their substrates (placing eggs on suitable substrates for larvae) and a steel pillar doesn't fit very well. However, e.g. moths (which often have spherical eggs in neat patterns) sometimes place eggs close to light sources they are drawn to, for instance windows. –  fileunderwater Jun 27 '13 at 12:46
I'm not sure this could be answered with much confidence, perhaps the Family or Genus are possible. –  rg255 Jun 27 '13 at 14:08
@fileunderwater, This was also my first tought exactly, I started googleling all sorts of dragonfly, moth and butterfly eggs. Yet all those eggs seem to be individual eggs clustered together. In the case of our unknown substance they look more like plant cells, with no space between the cells. –  user1897 Jun 27 '13 at 15:22

3 Answers 3

What we have here appears to be clustered insect eggs, and examples such as this tend to have some type of moth or butterfly as the culprit. It appears similar to moth eggs that I have observed on surfaces. See this page with information and this page with an example that look vaguely similar to your photograph. You would need an expert to identify a specific species though, if it's possible.

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As I commented earlier, they dont seem to be butterfly or moth eggs since all of those are quite clearly individual eggs. This substance is more like a whole. If indeed these are eggs of some sort they seem to be covered in some protective layer. –  user1897 Jul 5 '13 at 11:37

If you get a higher resolution and closer image, it would be a little easier, but from what I can make out, I have two suggestions. To me, it appears to be tiny yellow eggs grouped together which leads me to believe it could be milkweed bug or a lady bug.

The eggs of the milkweed bug look like:

enter image description here

The eggs of a lady bug look like:

enter image description here

Since these pictures are of a much higher quality, it easy to tell the eggs apart and they have height. If I stumble across any more viable options, I will post them.

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This is more likely snails eggs. If it is in a wet or very humid area, and the eggs seem to be immersed in a matrix of a clear substance, that help retain water. Insects do not lay their eggs in substances like that, since there are more resistant to desiccation.

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Hi Julio. Welcome to the site. It would be nice if you post some referenced pictures to support your answer. –  WYSIWYG Sep 21 '14 at 5:58

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