Mutated Monarch Part 2

[EE]

Thanks for taking the time to respond, Paul.

> EE wrote:
>
> > The Monarch eggs were collected around Aug. 8th from a vacant field
> > across the train tracks from a golf course. They were kept in a newly
> > built small outdoor enclosure that consisted of a frame made from wooden
> > 1x1's covered with screening material. They were fed on milkweed from
> > the field.

Paul Cherubini wrote:

> Was the milkweed changed twice a day? Changing it only once a day seems
> to  lead to nutritional and hydrational inadequacies -especially in the
> later instars - that also seem to make the caterpillars more prone to
> viral, bacterial diseases or protozoan parasites.

I cookied-cuttered floral foam into a big clean soup can,  saturated it with water, and took it with me when I went to cut milkweed. I cut young perfect
milkweed and poked them into the floral foam immediately. Floral foam holds hundreds of times it's own weight in water and is the same kind of consistancy
as most plant stems, so that the plant can draw moisture from it. The milkweed stayed fresh for about 3 - 5 days. I replaced the plants when they were
either eaten down, or began to deteriorate. There was always plenty of fresh food for everyone.


> > The abdomen sticking out was green in colour.
> > the butterfly wiggled a bit, but died within a few hours
>
> Here in California we called this "green butt" disease. The green butt
> is a symptom of a heavy infestation of protozoan parasite. However it's
> possible there could be other conditions that cause it other than the
> parasite - the parasite is fairly rare in eastern monarchs.

Maybe I just hot lucky? ;-)

How contagious is this protozoan parasite? And at which stage of development is it passed on? Could the Eastern Black Swallowtails in the adjacent
enclosure have contracted it? They're diapausing, so I won't know how they fared until the spring. I'm hoping you'll set my mind at ease!

I've always gang reared the EBS, that's to say that several plants go into their enclosure and there may be up to 4 of them on the same plant. This has
never caused health problems.

If there was a protozoan parasite present in one or more of the Monarchs, would the situation have been exacerbated by the pillars being in such close
proximity?

> > On September 17th, the 10th caterpillar, the last to pupate, emerged. I
> > After 4 hours, he flapped off ... not incredibly
> > vigorously ... but he did fly off.
>
> Again this sounds like a protozoan parasite - normal looking, but
> smallish, and slightly weak and lethargic adults is a symptom of a
> heavy, but not  lethal infestation.  Surprizingly, studies indicate many
> of these heavily infected adults manage to lead normal lives.

The resilience of nature never ceases to amaze me! Actually the male was the same size as the other males I'd observed nectaring in the yard. The day he
emerged was coolish  (mid-high 60's), so that might have slowed him down. I've put a shot of the #1 mutant, and my sole emergent up on a page. I'd
appreciate it if you'd have a look and let me know if that bowing in the middle of #10's body is normal. He'd emerged 4 hours previous to the picture being
taken. It was just before he fluttered away.

http://www3.sympatico.ca/great/monarchs2.html

Thanks again,

EE

> > I've learned that most golf courses around here spray fungicides and
> > imidacloprid (Merit).. Could the persistant pesticide or fungicide used to     > keep the greens mold free have caused the problem? Could it have been
> > pesticides from the lawn chem truck which was also around one afternoon
> > spraying a lawn a half a block away?
>
> Not likely. Merit kills within a day if bugs receive a lethal dose.
> Insects that receive sublethal doses have mixed function oxidases in
> their guts that can rapidly detoxify many insecticides.
>
> Some of California's largest and most persistent monarch butterfly
> overwintering sites are located on golf courses that are treated with
> insecticides, fungicides and broadleaf weed herbicides. The butterflies
> frequently bask, mate and drink dew water off these lawns. No one has
> ever noticed this causes a problem for them. In fact, the two longest
> lived tagged monarchs in recorded history (after tagging 1,000,000+
> monarchs over the past 45 years by 1000 + people) were both tagged at a
> golf course overwintering site where the butterflies cluster on exotic
> Australian eucalyptus trees located in an urban area between Oakland and
> San Jose, California. This evidence doesn't quite fit the popular
> romanticized notion that monarchs require a pristine, all natural,
> unaltered by man, sacred kind of overwintering sanctuary.

>
> Paul Cherubini, Placerville, California