Includes:

$6.50 Buy Now

Monarch: Egg to Butterfly

The Monarch Butterfly is probably the most recognized butterfly in the North America. Its orange and black pattern and a wingspan of 4 inches make it an easy backyard visitor to spot. The female monarch has darker veins on her wings and the male has scent glands that appear as two black dots on his lower wings.  Both male and female have large and small white dots sprinkled around the edges of their wings and all over their fuzzy bodies.  

Monarchs are found in all parts of the world. They live in open habitats, including fields, meadows and cleared roadsides.   The Monarch is the only butterfly that migrates both north and south, as birds do.  And is one of the few insects capable of making transatlantic crossings!   The Monarch caterpillar eggs are laid singly on the underside of milkweed (Asclepial sp.) plants. 

The female attaches the egg to the leaf with quick-drying glue, which she secretes along with the egg. The creamy white eggs will turn to a darker yellow and hatch in 3-5 days. And if you look carefully, you can see the tiny caterpillar head through the eggshell!   When the caterpillar hatches, it eats its eggshell, and then starts to munch on milkweed leaves. The Monarch caterpillars are banded with yellow, black and white stripes. Even its little head is striped with black and yellow.  There are two pairs of black filaments, one pair on each end of the body.  

Monarch caterpillars are voracious, picky eaters, only eating plants from the milkweed family.  These caterpillars absorb toxins from the milkweed plants into their bodies, making them poisonous to predators, even as a butterfly. The Monarch caterpillar will molt several times during a two-week period, before pupating and forming a chrysalis. When the caterpillar is about two inches long and ready to form a chrysalis, it will spin a small pad of silk and attach its hind end. It then hangs, head down, and molts for the last time.  When the newly exposed skin dries, it becomes a brilliant jade green with glittering metallic gold dots.  In about 10 days, just before the butterfly is ready to emerge, the chrysalis becomes transparent & you can see the butterfly wing patterns inside!

Normally most butterflies emerge early in the morning, just as the sun is coming up.  Its wings will be very small and crumpled, but as the butterfly hangs to dry, it pumps fluid, through tiny veins, into its wings.  In a few hours, its wings will be hardened and dry and the butterfly will be ready to take flight.

Monarch butterflies have four generations each year, most live as a butterfly from 2-6 weeks, except for the last generation, who will migrate, usually in August. This fourth (and special) generation, will migrate and live for 6-8 months, until it is time to start the whole process over again.

What to Look for in Your Monarch Garden

Monarch Egg

Caterpillar



Mature Butterfly
_______________

Host Plants

Tropical Milkweek
Asclepicas Curassavica

Swamp Milkweed
Asclepias Incarnata

Butterfly Plant
Asclepias Turberosa