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Project Noah Nature School
Danaus plexippus
Rich cinnamon-orange with black veins and white dots on the black wing borders and body. Male has a small black spot along one vein on the hindwing topwing, females don't have this. Host plant: Milkweeds (asclepias) Continued Monarch series: Eclosing
Open fields, roadsides. During migration they can be just about anywhere.
After being in the chrysalis stage (pupal stage) for 8-15 days, the adult butterfly ecloses. I have a fully "inflated" monarch to the left of the monarch that is eclosing. First image the monarch breaks the chrysalis. At this point the chrysalis is as thin as rice paper. Second image he slowly and carefully slides out. Third image he gets his footing. Fourth image he works at "zipping" his proboscis and starts to pump the fluid from his abdomen into his wings. 5th image he's still pumping fluid into his wings.. 6th image he is fully pumped and will hang to dry for several hours. He is very vulnerable at this point and can not fly. Both Monarchs shown are males.
Spotted on Sep 13, 2003
Submitted on Dec 22, 2012
4 Comments
Thank you Sarah. Good luck with it. It's so much fun, and very educational for children. Be sure to study about it before trying it though.
INCREDIBLE!! I love it! Am gonna check out how to do this!! :)
Oh me too. You can learn so much.
great! I love raising butterflies :)