on three legs...

butterflypr at comcast.net butterflypr at comcast.net
Fri Jul 4 12:24:36 EDT 2008


My first two Monarchs of the year have eclosed.  One was from an egg that I found on 6/8, the other a caterpillar that I found 6/12 (both in my milkweed patch).  One was at the Madison Library yesterday--part of the Catch the Reading Bug program--so I don't know whether it was male or female, and I can only assume it was in good shape.  The other was this morning at my house.  I hadn't really expected it to eclose--the chrysalis had some strange wrinkles and creases in it, and I actually thought it might have been parasitized.  But there was the butterfly when I got up this morning!  It looked like a healthy male...until I moved it to a different enclosure and realized that it only had three legs!!  It's missing a foreleg.  I did look at the remains of the chrysalis, to see if it had somehow broken off, but while there did seem to be a bit more debris inside than usual, definitely not an identifiable leg.  The sun is coming out, so I'll let it go momentarily, but I'll definitely ph
otograph it first!

Diane in Chester


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