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Donna VanBuecken

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Archives for May 2016

Raising Monarch Butterflies

May 2, 2016

The life cycle of OE is very closely related to the life cycle of the monarch butterfly. OE can only reproduce inside the insect’s body. Infected females pass on the parasite to their offspring when they lay eggs. Dormant spores on the outside of the female’s abdomen are scattered on the eggs and milkweed leaves. When a caterpillar hatches, its first meal is the egg shell. Most damage to the butterfly happens during the pupal stage. Infected adults emerge covered with spores. Once butterflies are infected, they do not recover. The spores are inactive or dormant until they are eaten by another caterpillar. Graphic and text courtesy of Monarch Health.

Recently I gave my Why Natives? PowerPoint presentation to a local birding group which meets at Heckrodt Wetland Reserve. One of the questions asked at the end of the presentation was whether or not it was appropriate to raise monarch caterpillars at home -- the questioner had heard pros and cons … [Read more...]

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Donna VanBuecken