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Monarch emergence sequence

Danaus plexippus

Description:

The bright orange butterfly emerged this morning at 9 am, the whole sequence taking about 30 minutes. The pupa turns clear revealing the orange wings and emerge crumpled before expanding and drying. The proboscis in pic 4 is initially in two halves and zips together to form a curled drinking straw. The adult will wait for a couple of hours for the wings to harden before flying away.

Habitat:

Captive bred monarchs were collected as caterpillars near Sydney last month http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/173...

Notes:

See more here http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/175...

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8 Comments

MartinL
MartinL 11 years ago

Yes, instinct patterns have evolutionary origins. Green sea turtles migrate to Ascension Island to safely lay eggs (2200km). It seems crazy. But Brazil was a lot closer a million years ago. But monarchs have other options, such as your west coast butterflies seem to have realized. Thanks for the info Lauren.

LaurenZarate
LaurenZarate 11 years ago

That is a really good question. I don't think anyone really knows. The west coast monarchs have a few small areas for hibernation along the coast of California and don't go as far as the east coast-Canadian monarchs. It has to have millions of years of something not yet defined behind it all.

MartinL
MartinL 11 years ago

Lauren, that's on my bucket list.
Ours sometimes migrate but only when their populations are high.
That will certainly be a treat. Why do you suppose they go so far to the north at all? The monarchs from Peru don't bother.

LaurenZarate
LaurenZarate 11 years ago

Very beautiful pictures Martin! I am going this month to the Overwintering site of all the monarchs from the eastern US and Canada, which is in the State of Michoacan, Mexico. I can hardly wait! They will begin to migrate north again in March.

MartinL
MartinL 11 years ago

Thank you Drazeth, lori and Leanne.
These are scarce in the wild in victoria as the food plant is scarce. http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/170...
A weed eradication program has been very successful.

LeanneGardner
LeanneGardner 11 years ago

Love it!

lori.tas
lori.tas 11 years ago

I love watching them emerge. Well done.

Draezeth
Draezeth 11 years ago

Woooow! Reminds me of the monarch I raised with my 6th grade class!

Butterflies are really one of nature's greatest miracles!

MartinL
Spotted by
MartinL

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Spotted on Feb 4, 2013
Submitted on Feb 4, 2013

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