Monarch Butterflies

PowerPoint Pizzazzby the ‘Butterfly Lady’ Jacqui Knight

of Russell, Bay of Islands, NZ

Danaus plexippus

2Life Cycle of a Monarch Butterfly

1- Egg

Ovum

2 - Caterpillar

Larva

3 - Pupa

Chrysalis

4 - Adult

Imago

1 – Egg/Ovum4 days(longer if cool)

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• smaller than a pin

• male dies soon after mating

• one female laid 1179 eggs!*

• average female lays 400 eggs!

Egg (Ovum)

Photo and statistics:* Monarch Lab,

University of Minnesota, used with permission

4

after about four days eggs are transparent

(can be as little as one day or may take all winter)

black face of caterpillar can be seen

5Life Cycle : Caterpillar

1- Egg

Ovum

2 - Caterpillar

Larva

3 - Pupa

Chrysalis

4 - Adult

Imago

2 – Caterpillar/Larva10-14 days

1 – Egg/Ovum4 days

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Caterpillars (Larvae)

• emerges only 2mm long

• eats egg shell

• grows in stages (five instars)

• eats day and night for 9-14 days (Summer)

• slower in Winter

8

egg to chrysalis, caterpillar grows in size 3000+ times

five pairs of legs

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finally 5-6cm long

In NZ not palatable to birds - chemical defence against predators

10Life Cycle : Chrysalis

1- Eggs

Ovum

2 - Caterpillar

Larva

3 - Pupa

Chrysalis

4 - Adult

Imago

2 – Caterpillar/Larva10-14 days

1 – Egg/Ovum4 days

3 - Pupa/Chrysalis10-14 days

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Chrysalis

• caterpillar lays down mat of silk

• in centre of mat a tiny white silk button

• clasps button with last two prolegs and lets go with front legs

• hangs upside down in a J formation

13skin splits, revealingchrysalisinside

14wriggling chrysalis pushes old skin up and out of the way

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19chrysalis wriggles and moulds into smooth shape

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The make-up of the specks of gold unknown.

The green colouration is caterpillar’s blood or haemolymph.

21pale green changes to jade green

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23

cuticle (skin) actually transparenthangs 10-14 days as butterfly body forms inside

24Fourth Stage : Adult

1- Eggs

Ovum

2 - Caterpillar

Larva

3 - Pupa

Chrysalis

4 - Adult

Imago

2 – Caterpillar/Larva10-14 days

1 – Eggs/Ovum4 days

4 – Adult/Imagomates

3 - Pupa/Chrysalis10-14 days

25Chrysalis shell breaks open

MonarchButterflyemerges

26Adult pumps fluid into wings to straighten and strengthen

Then knits together two parts of mouth (proboscis)

27finds a mate…

… and life cycle begins all over again

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• Females have broader veins

AdultPhotograph courtesy of Dale McClung,

http://www.adver-net.com/FMonHome.html

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Adult

• Males have a black dot, a scent pouch, on their lower wing

• Their black veins are also thinner

Photograph courtesy of Dale McClung, http://www.adver-net.com/FMonHome.html

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Food Sources - Butterfly

– Echium Fastuosum ‘Pride of Madeira’

– Schinus molle (Pepper Tree)

– Tweedia

– Buddleia

– Butterfly Bush

– Cosmos, Lantana, Asters, Sage, Yarrow, Phlox

– any flowering plants, nectar-rich

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Butterfly feeder

• plastic pot saucer

• sand

• 1 teaspoon of cow or horse manure

• over-ripe piece of banana, apple, pear

• place sand and manure in saucer with small amount of water

• add fruit

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Butterfly feeder

• 1 teaspoon sugar dissolved in 2 cups water

• DO NOT USE HONEY (can spread disease from bees to other insects)

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• Milkweed (Asclepias species)

• poisonous cardenolides or cardiac glycosides

• cardenolides are poisonous to vertebrates (animals with backbone)

Food Sources - Caterpillars

34

Food Sources - Caterpillars

Swan Plant Asclepias fruticosa

– grows 1 - 2 metres

– slender leaves

– clusters of small cream flowers

– seedpods resembling swans, silvery green,

– seeds slightly bigger than a pin-head, hard, black

– plants often stripped by Monarch caterpillars and die in height of season

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Food Sources - Caterpillars

Giant Swan Plant Asclepias physocarpa or Gomphocarpus

physocarpus

– 2 - 3 metres

– large round leaf

– larger cream flowers

– round seedpods more like hairy golfballs

– rapid growth, strong plant, usually outlives caterpillars’ attacks

– may need staking - plant out of strong winds

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WARNING!!!

• milky latex-like sap

• poisonous

• can cause itching

• if eaten - vomiting, stupor, weakness, spasms

37ALTERNATIVE FOOD SOURCES

• Pumpkin!

• Put thin slivers on to a plate

• Use the ‘moat’ process to force the caterpillars to eat pumpkin

• Frass (poop) will turn golden!

• Only suitable for caterpillars bigger than 2cm

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Pests

• Birds – do not predate Monarchs - caterpillars are poisonous

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Pests

• Wasps:– Tachinid larva burrows into a Monarch larva

(caterpillar), eats tissues and fluid from Monarch– Brachonid wasp, female

lays one egg inside Monarchlarva. From that egg, asmany as 32 genetically-identical adults develop

Photograph: Morris, Clearwater, Florida, USA

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Pests

• Do not try and kill pests --

• Some wasps are beneficial, introduced to control other pests such as aphids

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Protection from Wasps

1. Vase full of water on a tray

2. Spread a thin layer of water on the tray to act as a moat

3. Put a branch of Swan Plant in the vase

4. Remove small caterpillars very gently from their host plant using a ‘pocket’

5. Add caterpillars by pegging pouch to Swan Plant

6. Add more food daily to the vase

7. Under the tray you will want to put layers of newspaper to catch all the frass or poop

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New Zealand

• NZ has only 23 species of butterfly – 11 endemic – 12 non-endemic

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New Zealand

The Monarch Butterfly

• first recorded in NZ 1880s

• believed to have blown here on a storm

• no harmful effects on NZ ecosystem

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New Zealand

• 1960-1970s Monarch Butterflies tagged

• 6500 butterflies tagged

• 1011 recovered

• Only 28 butterflies flew more than 20km

Photo by Ed Wesley, NE Pennsylvania

Photo courtesyLinda & Jeff Ives

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New Zealand• no pattern of

migration

• parks and gardens – thousands of butterflies in one tree

• following taken at Butterfly Bay near Russell, Bay of Islands

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North America

• Native– East of the Rockies: Reserves in Mexico– Autumn: migrate up to 3000km south to

Mexico for the North American Winter• That’s one and a half times the length of New Zealand!

– Spring: migrate back to where their great great grandparents come from – 5th generations!

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North America

• Native to America– West of the Rockies:

overwinter in California – e.g. Monterey Peninsula

– Spring: migrate back north – some say to where their forebears lived.

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North America80% of the Eastern Population of

migrating Monarchs enters Mexico by crossing the Rio Grande in

Southwest Texas.

For six weeks each fall many thousands of monarchs cluster and nectar nightly on the scrubby, arid vegetation. Thousands of square

miles of scrub brush provide ample shelter and sustenance for the many

millions of Monarchs.

This pair of tagged Monarchs will nectar on the Lantana horrida,

warming themselves in the direct sunlight before resuming their

southward trek.

Photo courtesy

Rio Bravo Nature Center Foundation, Inc.

Eagle Pass, Texas

Monarch Butterflies

for further information, plants, presentations to schools and clubs etc contact the ‘Butterfly Lady’, Jacqui Knight, Russell, Bay of

Islands, NZThat’s all

folks!

51For further information (USA)

http://www.monarchwatch.org

http://www.basrelief.org/

http://www.lifestrands.org/

Thanks to Morris (Clearwater, Florida, USA) and Nadine Bovis (Titirangi) for many of the photographs