Monarchs in New Zealand

Pierre A Plauzoles ae779 at lafn.org
Sat Mar 18 14:35:08 EST 2000


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Roger Dewhurst wrote:

  Roger Dewhurst wrote:
  >
  > I have a number of Monarch butterfly caterpillars on a small Swan
  > plant.  The leaves will all be eaten soon.  Can anyone suggest other

  > plants on which to put some of them?

  They will survive quite well on geraniums, and on the native rariki
  (spelling) weed.

  You can also use bits of cabbage leaves poked onto the bare ends of
  the
  swan plant branches as a partial feed. Pumpkin is an absolutely last
  resort supplement only.

  You will find if you have 6 or so swan plants, the butteflies will be
  selective on which ones they lay on at what time of the season, and
  with
  some judicious placement of the catepillars on the various plants, you

  can ensure plenty of feed for them throughout the year.

Interesting.

Here in North America, the Monarch (Danaus plexippus) will do well only
on milkweed (Asclepias sp), the problem being predation on the adults
(that have fed on certain plants other than milkweed) by certain birds.
I am curious as to how well they do in terms of predation avoidance
having fed as caterpillars on geranium and/or thistle instead of a
milkweed, several of which are (here anyway) their normal hostplants.

Keep us up to date, please.

Pierre A Plauzoles
sphinxangelorum at bigfoot.com




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Roger Dewhurst wrote:
<p>&nbsp; Roger Dewhurst wrote:
<br>&nbsp; >
<br>&nbsp; > I have a number of Monarch butterfly caterpillars on a small
Swan
<br>&nbsp; > plant.&nbsp; The leaves will all be eaten soon.&nbsp; Can
anyone suggest other
<br>&nbsp; > plants on which to put some of them?
<p>&nbsp; They will survive quite well on geraniums, and on the native
rariki
<br>&nbsp; (spelling) weed.
<p>&nbsp; You can also use bits of cabbage leaves poked onto the bare ends
of
<br>&nbsp; the
<br>&nbsp; swan plant branches as a partial feed. Pumpkin is an absolutely
last
<br>&nbsp; resort supplement only.
<p>&nbsp; You will find if you have 6 or so swan plants, the butteflies
will be
<br>&nbsp; selective on which ones they lay on at what time of the season,
and
<br>&nbsp; with
<br>&nbsp; some judicious placement of the catepillars on the various plants,
you
<br>&nbsp; can ensure plenty of feed for them throughout the year.
<p>Interesting.
<p>Here in North America, the Monarch (<i>Danaus plexippus</i>) will do
well only on milkweed (<i>Asclepias</i> sp), the problem being predation
on the adults (that have fed on certain plants other than milkweed) by
certain birds.&nbsp; I am curious as to how well they do in terms of predation
avoidance having fed as caterpillars on geranium and/or thistle instead
of a milkweed, several of which are (here anyway) their normal hostplants.
<p>Keep us up to date, please.
<p>Pierre A Plauzoles
<br>sphinxangelorum at bigfoot.com
<br>&nbsp;
<br>&nbsp;
<br>&nbsp;</html>

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