It has been a long time since the Queen Butterfly has visited the garden.
This beauty also uses milkweed to lay its eggs. It moved between my milkweed and the blooms on the wild lime tree.
It is a little smaller than the monarch with a wingspan between 6.7-9.8 cm. The wings are a mahogany coloring with black borders and small white spots.
My giant milkweed has exploded with monarch caterpillars again. They look to be close to their final instar, if not the final instar. Their gorgeous green chrysalsis will be appearing soon.
My garden recently has had a huge influx of monarch caterpillars. We usually have caterpillars throughout the year, but they seemed to have taken a break this year, as I did not begin to find them again until last month.
There are four stages in the life cycle of a monarch butterfly: the egg, the larvae (caterpillar) the pupa (chrysalis) and the butterfly. I have a few caterpillars left still chomping away from the influx, with more than two dozen chrysalis.
After the butterfly lays a cream colored egg on the bottom of a milkweed leaf, it takes anywhere from three to five days to hatch. The larvae chews a small hole in the egg to wiggle free. Once it emerges it consumes the rest of the egg before moving onto the leaf.
According to “Florida Butterfly Caterpillars and Their Host Plant” (Marc C. Minno, Jerry F. Butler and Donald W. Hall), the milkweed plant has latex within that sticks to the mouthparts of herbivores. The caterpillars will cut the leaves near the base of the milkweed blade to drain out that latex before they begin eating.
As the yellow, black and white stripped caterpillar eats the milkweed leaf it continues to grow and molts its old skin, splitting it in half. The caterpillar often consumes the skin before continuing eating the milkweed leaf. It can grow in length to 2″.
The caterpillar will molt four times, going through “instars” before its last molt.
Once they reach two inches they are ready for their pupa stage. The caterpillar finds the perfect destination to form its chrysalis and weaves a silk mat. The caterpillar grabs the silk with its legs to hang upside down in the “J” form, according to Arizona State University School of Life Sciences.
Did you know that a female monarch butterfly can lay anywhere between 300 to 500 eggs over two to five weeks? This butterfly spent a good amount of time choosing many giant milkweed leaves to lay her eggs.
According to Monarch Joint Venture, prior to fertilization, the egg is formed, as well as the hard outer shell – chorion – as this protects the developing larvae. This outer shell has a layer of wax to help prevent the egg from drying out. The monarch egg also has micropyles, which are tiny funnel-shaped openings.
In about three to five days, a tiny monarch caterpillar will appear.
According to “Florida Butterfly Caterpillars and Their Host Plant” (Marc C. Minno, Jerry F. Butler and Donald W. Hall), the milkweed plant has latex within that sticks to the mouthparts of herbivores. The caterpillars will cut the leaves near the base of the milkweed blade to drain out that latex before they begin eating.
Sometimes I have great ideas . . . such as planting my new milkweed right outside our front window. The monarch’s have been busy. This female came back numerous times to lay eggs.
