Monarch Butterflies

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

3

4

1 – Egg/Ovum4 days(longer if cool)

3

• 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

4

2 – Caterpillar/Larva10-14 days

1 – Egg/Ovum4 days

6

7

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

9

finally 5-6cm long

Not palatable generally to birds - chemical defence against predators

10Life Cycle : Chrysalis

1 - Eggs

Ovum

2 - Caterpillar

Larva

3 – ChrysalisPupa

4

2 – Caterpillar/Larva10-14 days

1 – Egg/Ovum4 days

3 - Chrysalis/Pupa10-14 days

11

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 ofthe way

15

16

17

18

19chrysalis wriggles and moulds into smooth shape

20

The make-up of the specks of gold unknown.

The green colouration is caterpillar’s blood or haemolymph.

21pale green changes to jade green

22

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 - Chrysalis/Pupa10-14 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

28

• Females have broader veins

AdultPhotograph courtesy of Dale McClung,

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

29

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

30

Food Sources - Butterfly– Echium fastuosum ‘Pride of Madeira’– Schinus molle (Pepper Tree) – Tweedia– Buddleia– Bottlebrush, Poinsettia, Hibiscus– Cosmos, Lantana, Asters, Sage,

Yarrow, Phlox, Zinnias– any flowering plants, nectar-rich

31

Butterfly feeder

• sugar waterOR

• apple juice

• pour a little onto a sponge or paper towel

• leave on brightly coloured plate

32

Butterfly feeder

• 1 teaspoon sugar dissolved in 2 cups water

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

33

• Milkweed (Gomphocarpus sp.)was called Asclepias sp.

• poisonous cardenolides or cardiac glycosides

• cardenolides are poisonous to vertebrates (animals with backbone)

Food Sources - Caterpillars

34

Food Sources - Caterpillars

Swan Plant Gomphocarpus fruticosus

– 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

35

Food Sources - Caterpillars

Giant Swan Plant 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

36

WARNING!!!

• milky latex-like sap

• poisonous

• can cause itching

• if eaten - vomiting, stupor, weakness, spasms

37ALTERNATIVE FOOD SOURCES

• Only suitable for caterpillars 2cm +

• Pumpkin, cucumber rind, courgettes

• Put thin slivers on to a plate

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

• Frass (poop) will change colour!

38

Pests

• Birds – generally do not predate Monarchs – caterpillars are poisonous to them – some birds are exception and build up tolerance to poison

39

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

40

Pests

• Do not try and kill pests --

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

41

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 pocket 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

42

Protection from Wasps

43

New Zealand

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

44

New Zealand

• first recorded in NZ 1800s

• believed to have blown here on a storm

• no harmful effects on NZ ecosystem

45

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

46

New Zealand

• no pattern of migration

• parks and gardens – thousands of butterflies in one tree

• following taken near Russell, Bay of Islands

47

48

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!

49

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.

50

North America80% of the Eastern Population of

migrating Monarchs enters Mexico by crossing the Rio Grande in Southwest

Texas.

For six weeks each Fall (Autumn) many thousands of monarchs cluster and nectar nightly on the scrubby, dry vegetation. Thousands of square miles

of scrub brush provide shelter and sustenance for the many millions of

Monarchs.

This pair of tagged Monarchs will nectar on the Lantana, warming themselves in the direct sunlight

before resuming their southward trek. Photo courtesy

Rio Bravo Nature Center Foundation, Inc.

Eagle Pass, Texas

51For further information (USA)

http://www.monarchwatch.org

http://www.monarch.org.nz

http://www.basrelief.org/

http://www.lifestrands.org/

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

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!