Things You Need to Know About Monarch Butterflies

Monarch Butterfly Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Answers provided by Dr. Karen Oberhauser, University of Minnesota.

Do monarchs live everywhere in Due north America?

Monarchs live everywhere milkweed grows. There are a few monarchs loftier in the mountains in the Rocky Mountain range considering there is not much milkweed growing there, and information technology is cooler than is ideal for monarchs. In northern Canada, the climate is too absurd for milkweed to abound, so the current northernmost distribution of monarchs is southern Ontario.

Are monarchs in western North America the same species equally those in eastern North America?

Yes.

Is at that place a location in North America with the almost number of monarch butterflies?

The Midwest tends to have the highest numbers of monarchs; an, these are the areas where the most milkweeds grow. In North America, 40 to 45 degrees latitude and 90 to 100 degrees longitude have the most monarchs.

How can you tell a monarch from a Viceroy?

The Viceroy butterfly is smaller than the monarch butterfly, on boilerplate, but some monarchs are smaller than some Viceroys are, so size is not a good way to tell them apart. Viceroys have a black line across the hindwing vein.

Viceroy butterfly. Photo by Tom Barnes.

Monarch butterfly. Photo by Anne-Marie Conard.

How much do monarchs weigh?

Monarchs weigh less than 1 gram, and vary from approximately 0.75 of a gram for large monarchs to smaller monarchs, which weigh as little every bit 0.25 grams. On the boilerplate, the adults counterbalance about half a gram.

Do monarchs swallow the aforementioned affair everywhere they live in Northward America?

Yes and no: larva require milkweed as nutrient just the adults will nectar on many different flowering plants. There are many species of milkweed, and monarch larvae swallow most of them. Because different milkweed species grow in different regions, at that place are regional differences in what they eat.

Monarch larva on milkweed. Photo by Rachel Powless.

Adult monarchs nectar on a diverseness of flowering plants. Photo by Mike Higgins.

Is it true that butterflies sense of taste flowers with their feet?

Monarchs have sensory organs on their anxiety and heads that assistance them identify different plants. It is uncertain whether insects "taste" equally we are able to do.

Can monarch larva eat other plants in improver to milkweed?

Host plants in the milkweed family are essential to the developing larva; without it, they would not survive. Yet, there are many species of milkweed, and monarchs can eat most of them. They too eat a plant that is not chosen milkweed, merely is in the same family: Cynanchum laeve, or sand vine.

What practice monarchs eat in Mexico when overwintering?

Monarchs store enough fatty and then that most if them do non need to eat when they are overwintering. That is why it is so important to have flowering plants available forth their spring and fall flyways. They do need to drinkable during the winter, so it is crucial that water or dew is available to them.

Do all monarchs go to Mexico to overwinter?

Monarchs w of the Rocky Mountain Range overwinter in California along the coast. At that place are many roost sites along the California declension. The coastal forests provide a similar microhabitat to the mountains in Mexico where the monarchs east of the Rocky Mountains overwinter.

If monarchs live several weeks as adults, then how can they overwinter as adults?

Typically, monarchs live between 2 and 6 weeks. The last generation of the year (determined by the decline of nectar plants and ecology factors) exercise not become sexually mature right afterward they emerge as adults, equally the summer generations do. The late summer butterflies become into what is called reproductive diapause, which means they cannot reproduce. In one case bound arrives, the monarchs become mature and reproduce starting the new first generation that make their way north. These monarchs can live much longer for two reasons. They are non using energy to reproduce, and they are in a very absurd location. Cool temperatures wearisome their metabolism, allowing them to live longer.

Why do monarchs gather on trees?

Monarchs clustering in Oyamel fir tree at El Rosario Sanctuary, Michoacan Mexico. Photo past Sue Sill LCHPR Inc., Feb 2005.

This is chosen clustering. There are no definitive answers to the question of why they practice it; they could either all be attracted to the same conditions that exist in a particular spot, or they could benefit from existence a grouping. Possible benefits they could gain from being together include protecting themselves from the elements and or overwhelming predators. Perhaps a group of monarchs can share body estrus, and thus gain protection from cool temperatures. Alternatively, a single butterfly in a big group would have a smaller take a chance of being eaten past a predator.

What happens to other butterflies in the winter? They practise non migrate and nevertheless they survive?

Most butterflies can survive freezing temperatures during some stage of their lives. Each species winters in a particular stage. For example, swallowtails overwinter as pupae, mourning cloaks overwinter as adults, and viceroys overwinter equally pocket-sized larvae. Monarchs cannot tolerate the cold winters and must drift to survive the wintertime temperatures.

Is there more than than one generation of monarchs each year?

There are multiple generations of monarchs each year. The monarchs that make it in Texas in February are usually those that overwintered in United mexican states, only the offspring of these monarchs motility further due north. The monarchs that make it in the northern part of their range are the offspring of the generation that wintered in Mexico. At that place are so two generations that do not drift. The monarchs that travel s in the late summertime to United mexican states have never been there earlier!

How many eggs do monarchs lay?

Female monarchs tin can lay over i,000 eggs in their lifetime. However, in the wild they probably lay an boilerplate of nearly 400 to 500 eggs.

How long practice monarchs stay in their cocoon?

Monarch chrysalis. Photo Anne-Marie Conard.

Newborn monarch butterfly. Photo Anne-Marie Conard.

The pupa of a butterfly is called a chrysalis rather than a cocoon. The difference in the structures is that many moths spin a layer of silk for protection and this structure is chosen a cocoon. They remain in the chrysalis for about 8-12 days, depending on temperature.

What is a chrysalis fabricated of?

The chrysalis is simply the word for the butterfly during the pupa stage. The outside of the chrysalis is the exoskeleton, or pare, of the pupa. When it becomes time for the larva (caterpillar) to become a chrysalis, the caterpillar spins a silk push from which it hangs. The larva forms its body in a J-shape and the peel splits and falls away. Underneath the old skin is the jade green chrysalis.

How do monarchs go out of the chrysalis?

The front of the chrysalis splits open up and the butterfly emerges. At this time, their wings are folded.

How exercise the wings unfold?

The wings have veins that fluid is pumped through which inflate the wings to their proper shape and size. The butterfly waits until its wings are dry out to fly. If the butterfly cannot hang upside downward while its wings are inflating and hardening, the wings will not form properly and the butterfly will not be able to fly.

Can you tell from the chrysalis whether the butterfly will exist a male person or female?

Yes, only information technology is a little difficult. There is a very small-scale line present in 1 of the abdominal segments of the female that is not nowadays in the male.

How can you tell a rex from a female?

Males have a dot on the vein on their hindwing. The dot is not coloration; information technology is made of specialized scales. In related species, the male produces a scent called a pheromone that attracts females. The male and female too have differently shaped abdomen, and the female's wing veins look slightly wider than the males.

How long do monarchs alive?

Monarch butterflies typically live from two to vi weeks except for the last generation of the year, which can live upwards to viii to 9 months.

How tin I get monarchs to come to my flower garden?

Whatsoever flowering plants will concenter monarchs, which will nectar on the flowers. Planting milkweed in your garden will assure that monarchs volition be present and will give you a close-upwards await at their eggs and larvae.

For additional Frequently Asked Questions answered by monarch butterfly proficient Dr. Karen Oberhauser, see the University of Minnesota Monarch Lab - Frequently Asked Questions.

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Source: https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/pollinators/Monarch_Butterfly/faqs.shtml

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