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At 7:48 PM -0300 8/9/11, Ken McKenna wrote:
>On Sat., Aug. 6, I went to check the area late in the evening after
>a so so day of butterfly attlassing in the Kenzieville priority
>square. The abandoned area was full of tall Queen Ann's Lace and
>other wildflowers and to my astonishment 400-500 milkweed plants. In
>the second grouping of plants I looked at, I found a monarch
>caterpillar. I did a quick search of a good number of the other
>plants, but not another larvae was observed.
>I don't know if it is common to find only one caterpillar. Surely
>more eggs were deposited than that.
Monarch's, like a number of butterflies with grouped hosts, often
exhibit an "edge" effect in oviposition, that is they preferentially
lay eggs on the plants at the edges of the plant group. Keep in mind
also that egg predators are legion and immature mortality in insects,
butterflies included, often approaches 99% (or more!) so one
egg/caterpillar may represent a larger number of eggs/caterpillars
that didn't "make it."
>I will check every now and then check for progress but at least a
>monarch can be recorded in the New Glasgow square away from usual
>coastline locations that seem to harbour more monarchs. Will this
>caterpillar have time to reach adulthood to start a leg of the
>journey back to Mexico?
Probably, yes. Egg to adult eclosure can be as short as 3 weeks...so
there may be butterflies by Labour Day.
Phil
--
Phil Schappert, PhD
27 Clovis Ave.
Halifax, NS, B3P 1J3
902-404-5679 (home)
902-460-8343 (cell)
www.philschappert.com
"Just let imagination lead, reality will follow through..."
(Michael Hedges)
--Boundary_(ID_80Twj+MgvaBB2EQB9yjWZw)
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<html><head><style type="text/css"><!--
blockquote, dl, ul, ol, li { padding-top: 0 ; padding-bottom: 0 }
--></style><title>Re: [NatureNS] Monarch caterpillar New
Glasgow</title></head><body>
<div>At 7:48 PM -0300 8/9/11, Ken McKenna wrote:</div>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Arial" size="-1">On Sat.,
Aug. 6, I went to check the area late in the evening after a so
so day of butterfly attlassing in the Kenzieville priority
square. The abandoned area was full of tall Queen Ann's Lace and other
wildflowers and to my astonishment 400-500 milkweed plants. In the
second grouping of plants I looked at, I found a
monarch</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Arial" size="-1">caterpillar.
I did a quick search of a good number of the other plants, but not
another larvae was observed.</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Arial" size="-1">I don't know
if it is common to find only one caterpillar. Surely more eggs
were deposited than that.</font></blockquote>
<div><br></div>
<div>Monarch's, like a number of butterflies with grouped hosts, often
exhibit an "edge" effect in oviposition, that is they
preferentially lay eggs on the plants at the edges of the plant group.
Keep in mind also that egg predators are legion and immature mortality
in insects, butterflies included, often approaches 99% (or more!) so
one egg/caterpillar may represent a larger number of eggs/caterpillars
that didn't "make it."</div>
<div><br></div>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Arial" size="-1">I will check
every now and then check for progress but at least a monarch can be
recorded in the New Glasgow square away from usual coastline locations
that seem to harbour more monarchs. Will this caterpillar have time to
reach adulthood to start a leg of the journey back to
Mexico?</font></blockquote>
<div><br></div>
<div>Probably, yes. Egg to adult eclosure can be as short as 3
weeks...so there may be butterflies by Labour Day.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Phil</div>
<div><br></div>
<x-sigsep><pre>--
</pre></x-sigsep>
<div><font face="Courier" size="-1" color="#000000"><br>
Phil Schappert, PhD</font></div>
<div><font face="Courier" size="-1" color="#000000"><br>
27 Clovis Ave.</font></div>
<div><font face="Courier" size="-1" color="#000000">Halifax, NS, B3P
1J3</font></div>
<div><font face="Courier" size="-1" color="#000000">902-404-5679
(home)</font></div>
<div><font face="Courier" size="-1" color="#000000">902-460-8343
(cell)</font></div>
<div><font face="Courier" size="-1" color="#000000"><br></font></div>
<div><font face="Courier" size="-1"
color="#000000">www.philschappert.com</font></div>
<div><font face="Courier" size="-1" color="#000000"><br>
"Just let imagination lead, reality will follow
through..."</font></div>
<div><font face="Courier" size="-1"
color="#000000"
> <span
></span
> <span
></span
> <span
></span> (Michael Hedges)</font></div>
</body>
</html>
--Boundary_(ID_80Twj+MgvaBB2EQB9yjWZw)--
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