Content
- Mating
- The caterpillars of the monarch butterfly
- Methuselah butterflies
- winter dwell
- Monarch butterfly predators
the monarch butterfly, Danaus plexippus, is a lepidopteran whose main difference with other species of butterflies is that it emigrates covering a huge amount of kilometers.
The monarch butterfly has a very peculiar life cycle, which varies depending on the generation that it happens to live. Its normal life cycle is as follows: it lives 4 days as an egg, 2 weeks as a caterpillar, 10 days as a chrysalis and 2 to 6 weeks as an adult butterfly.
However, butterflies that hatch from late August until early autumn, live 9 months. They are called Methuselah Generation, and are the butterflies that emigrate from Canada to Mexico and vice versa. Continue reading this PeritoAnimal article where we tell you all the most relevant points of the monarch butterfly migration.
Mating
Monarch butterflies measure between 9 to 10 cm, weighing half a gram. Females are smaller, have thinner wings and are darker in color. Males have a vein in their wings that release pheromones.
After mating, they lay eggs in plants called Asclepias (butterfly flower). When the larvae are born, they feed on the rest of the egg and the plant itself.
The caterpillars of the monarch butterfly
As the larva devours the butterfly flower, it transforms into a caterpillar with a striped pattern typical of the species.
Caterpillars and monarch butterflies have an unpleasant taste to predators. Besides its bad taste too it's toxic.
Methuselah butterflies
the butterflies that migrate from Canada to Mexico on a round trip, have an unusually long life. This very special generation we call the Methuselah Generation.
Monarch butterflies migrate south in late summer and early autumn. They cover more than 5000 km to reach their destination in Mexico or California to spend the winter. After 5 months, during spring the Methuselah generation returns to the north. In this movement, millions of copies migrate.
winter dwell
Butterflies from the east of the Rocky Mountains hibernate in mexico, while those to the west of the mountain range hibernate in california. Mexico's monarch butterflies winter in pine and spruce groves above 3000 meters in height.
Most regions where monarch butterflies inhabit during winter were declared, in the year 2008: Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve. California monarch butterflies hibernate in eucalyptus groves.
Monarch butterfly predators
Adult monarch butterflies and their caterpillars are toxic, but some species of birds and rats are immune to its poison. One bird that can feed on the monarch butterfly is the Pheucticus melanocephalus. This bird is also migratory.
There are monarch butterflies that do not migrate and live all year round in Mexico.
