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Project Noah Nature School
Danaus gilippus
This butterfly seemed to struggle a very long time to emerge and get its legs out of the chrysalis. I think that weakened it, and by the time it was out and trying to dry its wings, it was too hot. I found it dead on the ground without having fully opened its wings later on that day. See the video of it drying out its wings: https://youtu.be/eK6_X-MgWFM
Milkweed plant in a suburban yard
It was sad to see how hard it struggled to emerge and it did not make it. It may have been infected with OE as it was one of at least three I saw over the course of a year that were failed metamorphoses/emergences. I encouraged the tropical milkweed plants to be replaced with some native species to help reduce the chance of transferring OE to the larvae
Also, have you compared this butterfly to a Queen butterfly (Danaus gilippus)?
Interesting spotting and unfortunate that the butterfly didn’t survive. The wings look more wrinkled than they should look, and it’s possible that this butterfly was infected with Ophryocystis elektroscirrha (OE).
Spotted on Sep 26, 2017
Submitted on Dec 12, 2017
