If there is milkweed growing near you in a field, a meadow, your yard, or a park, you can find monarch caterpillar eggs, brightly colored milkweed caterpillars, and sight monarchs. The monarch butterfly is easy to recognize. She has bright coppery-red orange wings with black veins and edges, decorated with pale orange and white dots. The white dots run in pairs in a double row edging each wing.
Eggs of the Monarch
The monarch searches for milkweed plants. She will fly as far north as she can find milkweed growing. It lays eggs on the underside of milkweed leaves. The caterpillars hatch out and feast on the nutritious plant. The milkweed is the only plant the caterpillar will feed on.
Safety from Birds
The caterpillar is green with cross stripes of yellow and black – quite colorful and fascinating to watch. It eats day and night and only stops to rest between meals, on the underside of the leaves where it is unseen by predators. This hiding trick, plus the bright coloring make it undesirable to birds as often bright colors denote a bitter or poisonous insect.
A person might assume that the bright orange edged with black of this butterfly would make it an obvious target for birds. It is easy to see, yet birds leave it strictly alone. The monarch butterfly enjoys safe passage from birds as its colors warn the birds that it is distasteful.
The viceroy buttery copies the monarch’s colors and enjoys safety from most birds also. The viceroy is smaller, has a black band across each of its hind wings and instead of white dots is decorated with a single row of quarter moon shapes along the edges of the wings.
The milkweed caterpillar has asset of long black whiplashes extended from the back of its head at the top of the second segment. It has another pair on the seventh segment. These work like a horse’s tail to sweep away pesky parasitic flies called ichneumon flies.
The caterpillar eats for eleven days until it is mature and can begin the next stage of its life cycle – the development of the chrysalis.
The Chrysalis
The chrysalis and is one of the most awesome creations you can ever examine. It is darker green at the top and the lower part is a paler creamier whitish green outlined with golden flecks. The cap section is darker green and between the two sections is a border of white bumps with black lines above and below it. The chrysalis is suspended by a tiny yet strong length of black cord from the knob at the top. It might be found attached to a leaf, a rock, twig , or fence rail. The green camouflage helps it stay hidden from predators during this stage.
The chrysalis grows darker after two days and soon black dots appear. Near the time to hatch the chrysalis turns darker and duller. It takes twelve days for the butterfly to ready for hatching from the chrysalis.
When the butterfly is ready to emerge it will begin to break out of the chrysalis wrap. The insect then climbs to the outside of the shell and on with its short front pair of legs. Slowly the wings begin to fill out and dry.
The Monarch Emerges
This magnificent butterfly will go south to winter in South America before returning north in the fall to lay eggs on milkweed plants.
Your public library probably has a great selection of wonderful books about this popular butterfly and its life cycle. Try reading Hurry and the Monarch by Antoine Flatharta [Borzoi Books, 2005].
As autumn nears be on the lookout for milkweed plants so you can study the monarch up close. You will find Monarch caterpillars, called milkweed caterpillars only feed on milkweed, so that is where you will have to search to find eggs and caterpillars. The caterpillar is colorful and the chrysalis a wonder to see. The Monarch butterfly is a beautiful specimen---bright orange with black and white trim. Don't miss seeing it this fall.
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