Monarchs in New Zealand

Donald Davis donald.davis at utoronto.ca
Mon Mar 20 01:55:41 EST 2000 

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Pierre A Plauzoles wrote: (RE: monarch butterfly larva

>    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.
>
> 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
>

With due respect, Pierre, are your comments based on your own personal
observations and experimentations, or on information you have read or
heard about? Has anyone (or yourself) successfully reared monarchs on
anything other than asclepias leaves or artificial diet? Except for
observations made in Mexico and California of black grosbeaks and
orioles preying on adult monarchs, has anyone ever observed birds
preying on monarch butterflies? In all my 30 + years of watching
monarchs in Ontario, I have yet to see a bird prey on a monarch.  Which
does not mean to say that circumstances are differ elsewhere in the
world.

Don Davis
Toronto ON

>
>



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<P>Pierre A Plauzoles wrote: (RE: monarch butterfly larva
<BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE>&nbsp;&nbsp; They will survive quite well on geraniums,
and on the native rariki
<BR>&nbsp; (spelling) weed. You can also use bits of cabbage leaves poked
onto the bare ends of
<BR>&nbsp; the&nbsp; swan plant branches as a partial feed. Pumpkin is
an absolutely last
<BR>&nbsp; resort supplement only.

<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;</BLOCKQUOTE>
With due respect, Pierre, are your comments based on your own personal
observations and experimentations, or on information you have read or heard
about? Has anyone (or yourself) successfully reared monarchs on anything
other than asclepias leaves or artificial diet? Except for observations
made in Mexico and California of black grosbeaks and orioles preying on
adult monarchs, has anyone ever observed birds preying on monarch butterflies?
In all my 30 + years of watching monarchs in Ontario, I have yet to see
a bird prey on a monarch.&nbsp; Which does not mean to say that circumstances
are differ elsewhere in the world.

<P>Don Davis
<BR>Toronto ON
<BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE>

<P>&nbsp;
<BR>&nbsp;</BLOCKQUOTE>
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