Monarch eggs / predation / sibling rivalry

[Michael Leski]

I raised monarchs several years back for fun, from caterpillars captured 
in the field.  When the density of individuals became too high, and food 
apparently limiting, I watched an older caterpillar voraciously devour a 
chrysalis.  Wish I had photographed this, but I think it could be 
reproduced.

Incidentally, is this another reason they wander from the host plant 
before they pupate?  After all, they are, like us, what they eat!

Mike Leski
On Sunday, September 15, 2002, at 02:41 PM, Sunsol wrote:

>
> Martha Rosett Lutz <lutzrun at AVALON.NET> wrote in message
> news:v01510100b9a95043a05b@[63.95.18.227]...
>> Did anyone mention this yet?
>>
>> I don't know how significant a factor this is (especially in the field
>> versus the lab), but I have direct evidence that newly-hatched Monarch
>> larvae are predators of Monarch eggs.  Also, older larvae will eat 
>> younger
>> ones.
>
> Martha, have you actually seen caterpillars eat each other? I raise 
> anise
> swallowtails, among other caterpillars. I noticed that when rearing 
> small
> and large caterpillars together, the small ones would disappear. A 
> friend,
> who watched much more closely than I, said that the older ones would 
> knock
> the younger ones off as they fed.
>
> Sally
>
>
>
>
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