Post No. 15. Monarch Butterfly
The monarch Butterfly or simply monarch is a milweed Butterfly in the family Numphalidae. Other common names depending on region include milkweed, common tiger, wanderer, andblack veined brown. It may be the most familiar North American butterfly, and is considered an iconic pollinator species. Its wings feature an easily recognizable black, orange, and white pattern, with a wingspan of 8.9-10.2 cm. The viceroy butterfly is similar in color and patter, but is markedly smaller and has an extra black stripe across each hindwing.

 The eastern North American monarch population is notable for its annual southward late-summer/autumm migration from the northern and central United States and southern Canada to Florida and Mexico. During the fall migration, monarchs cover thousands of miles, with a corresponding multi-generational return north. The western North American population of monarchs west of the Rocky Mountains often migrates to sites in southern California but has been found in overwintering Mexican sites as well. Monarchs were transported to the International Space Station and were bred there.

 The name “monarch” may be in honor of King William III of England. The monarch was originally described by Carl Linnaueus in his Systema Naturae of 1758 and placed in the genus Papilio.
The Scientific Clasification is:
Kingdom:          Animalia
Clade:               Euarthropoda
Order:               Lepidoptera
Family:             Nymphalidae
Genus:              Danaus
Species:           D. plexippus

 Danaus, a great-grandson of Zeus was a mythical king in Egypt or Libya, who founded Argos; Plexippus was one of the 50 sons of Aegyptus, the twin brother of Danaus.

 There are three species of monarch butterflies:
  • D plexippus. Its range actually extends worldwide and can be found in Hawaii, New Zealand, Spain and the Pacific Islands.
  • D.erippus, the southern monarch, as described by Pieter Cramer in 1775. This species is found in tropical and subtropical latitutes of South America, mainly in Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile and southern Peru. The South American monarch and the North American monarch may have been one species at one time.
There are six subspecies and two colors morphs of D. plexippus have been identified:
  • D. cleophile, the Jamaican monarch, described by Jean Baptiste Godart in 1819, ranges from Jamaica to Hispaniola.
  • D.p. plexippus is the migratory subspecies known from most of North America.
  • D.p. megalippe. Non migratory subspecies, and is found from Florida and Georgia southwards, throughout the Caribbean and Central America to the Amazon River.
  • D.p. leucogyne- St. Thomas
  • D.p. portoricensis- Puerto Rico
  • D.p. tobagi- Tobago.
The monarch butterfly undergoes the four stages of complete methamorphosis:
Eggs: Eggs take 3 to 8 days to develop and hatch into larva or caterpillars.
Larvae: The caterpillar goes through five major, distinct stages of growth and after each one, it molts. Each caterpillar, or instar,  that molts is larger than the previous as it eats and stores energy in the form of fat and nutrients to carry it through the nonfeeding pupal stage.
The caterpillar attaches itself securely to a horizontal surface, using a silk pad. At normal temperatures, it matures in 8-15 days. At the end of metamorphosis, the adult emerges from the chrysalis, expands and dries its wings and flies away. Monarch metamorphosis from egg to adult occurs during the warm summer temperatures in as little as 25 days, extending to as many as seven weeks during cool spring conditions.
Pupa. In the pupa or chrysalis stage, the caterpillar spins a silk pad on to a horizontal substrate. It then hangs from the pad by the last pair of prolegs upside down, resembling the letter “J”. It sheds its skin, leaving itself encased in an articulated green exoskeleton. During this pupal stage, the adult butterfly forms inside. The exoskeleton becomes transparent before it ecloses( emerges), and its adult colors can finally be seen.
Adult. An adult butterfly emerges after about two weeks as a chrysalid, and hangs upside down until its wings are dry. Monarchs typically live for two to five weeks during their breeding season.
Monarchs live for only 2-6 weeks. By the monarchs that migrate to Mexico in the fall are different: They are born in late summer, stay alive all winter, and migrate north the following spring. The process from egg to butterfly is weather dependent and also depends on the regional climate. It can take about four weeks in the peak of the summer in warmer climates. The egg takes 5 10 days, the larva/caterpillar and pupa/chrysalis each take about 10 to 14 days.

 References:
The Magnificient Monarchs.Time: 4:29:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adB638SIE1k

 The Long Journey Home I The New York Times: 4:11:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFoSpaNqqeQ

 Monarch Butterflies I National Geographic. Time: 2:28:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rko78QktS9A

 Butterfly In Metamorphosis: A Monarch Lifecycle Study. Time: 14:02:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyvzWDFASJw

 Monarch Butterfly Metamorphosis Time- Lapse FYV 1080 HD. Time: 6:04:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9whwif5kIhg

 The King of Butterflies- The Monarch Butterfly:
https://www.monarch-butterfly.com/

Save the Monarch butterfly. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service:
https://www.fws.gov/savethemonarch/

Mariposa Monarca- Santuario El Rosario- Ocampo Michoacan. Spanish. Time: 3:03:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekxi9zmtPp8

҆La Lección de la Mariposa Monarca. Spanish.Time: 26:01:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UyAqFM68pw

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