Our Monarchs (Danaus plexippus) have begun to hatch and in this post we briefly go over how we are rearing them in lieu of a full set of rearing notes since we have reared this species so many times. The 18 Monarch eggs (Danaus plexippus) we collected on 6/24 started to hatch yesterday and now we have a total of seven little newborns. Despite it being such a popular species, especially among beginners, most people who have reared Monarchs probably know that this species is quite prone to diseases and is often infected by the protozoan parasite, Ophryocystis elektroscirrha (OE), as well as tachinid flies (family Tachinidae). In the past, we have had some serious issues with both OE and tachinid flies in wild-caught caterpillars. This time, however, we have found the Monarchs in the form of egg, a rare find in the summer months here, so pretty much the only thing that they could potentially be infected with is OE (transmitted by their mother butterfly onto their eggs shells while are ingested along with the spores upon hatching) which is extremely common among our western populations. Sometimes we have used standard sterilizing protocols to get rid of the stuff, but it is a lot of work. Since we are currently dealing with a myriad of rearing projects right now, we just didn't have the time or energy to perform any sterilization procedures and are just raising them without special treatment. Anyway, we have set up a pretty simple rearing apparatus for our newborns since there are so few of them and they are still young and won't eat much. Basically, we used a small rectangular scientific flask filled with water to hold cuttings of Tropical Milkweed (Asclepias curassaciva). The milkweed is a pretty hardy plant and can easily be grown and transplanted from cuttings, hence the fact that the cuttings generally do well when simply placed in some water. We thought that this was the best and most natural alternative to rearing them outside since we do not currently have any proper outdoor rearing sleeves. On a completely different note, we took note of something we have noted for a while with Brush-foots (Nymphalidae) like Monarchs, West Coast Ladies (Vanessa annabella), and Gulf Fritillaries (Augraulis vanillae): the caterpillars are mildly cannibalistic of other eggs. From the 18 eggs, we were only able to get seven of them to hatch and the other eggs have seemed to have dissapeared into thin air. Because we did not remove the newborn caterpillars immediately after they hatched, they must have had the chance to walk around and eat up some of the other eggs that hadn't hatched yet (though we could be wrong). As for the evolutionary benefit, this is normally to avoid overcrowding, but to be honest it just seems illogical in many cases. - Brian
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Timeline 2012–2017
Albany, California This timeline is a series of daily posts recording our observations on and experiences with various insects in Albany California and surrounding areas, from 2012-2017. Since we did not publish this site until 2016, posts before that were constructed retroactively. Starting in August 2017, we moved to Ithaca, New York; posts from there on can be viewed at Timeline 2017-present: Ithaca, New York. Archives (1,011)
August 2017 (49) July 2017 (121) June 2017 (79) May 2017 (77) April 2017 (91) March 2017 (35) February 2017 (12) January 2017 (10) December 2016 (12) November 2016 (26) October 2016 (49) September 2016 (84) August 2016 (94) July 2016 (99) June 2016 (53) May 2016 (21) April 2016 (4) January 2016 (1) August 2015 (3) July 2015 (3) June 2015 (2) June 2014 (3) May 2014 (1) April 2014 (3) March 2014 (3) December 2013 (2) November 2013 (2) October 2013 (5) September 2013 (11) August 2013 (15) July 2013 (9) June 2013 (5) May 2013 (4) April 2013 (3) March 2013 (2) February 2013 (3) January 2013 (2) December 2012 (2) November 2012 (1) October 2012 (2) September 2012 (2) August 2012 (5) July 2012 (1) June 2012 (1) Authors
![]() ![]() Full Species List (Alphabetical by scientific name) Note: - Not every species we encounter is necessarily presented on this site, rather a selection of those that were of particular interest to us and that we felt were worth documenting. - We can't guarantee that all species have been identified accurately, particularly taxa we are not as familiar with. Lepidoptera Actias luna Adelpha californica Agraulis vanillae Allancastria cerisyi Antheraea mylitta Antheraea polyphemus Anthocharis sara Argema mimosae Attacus atlas Battus philenor hirsuta Bombyx mori Caligo atreus Callosamia promethea Coenonympha tullia california Citheronia regalis Cricula trifenestrata Danaus plexippus Eacles imperialis Erynnis tristis Estigmene acrea Eumorpha achemon Eupackardia calleta Furcula cinereoides Heliconius erato Heliconius hecale Heliconius sapho Heliconius sara Hyalophora cecropia Hyalophora columbia Hyalophora euryalus Hylephila phyleus Hyles lineata Junonia coenia Langia zenzeroides formosana Lophocampa maculata Manduca sexta Morpho peleides Nymphalis antiopa Orgyia vetusta Orthosia hibisci quenquefasciata Pachysphinx modesta Papilio cresphontes Papilio eurymedon Papilio glaucus Papilio machaon oregonius Papilio multicaudata Papilio polyxenes asterius Papilio rumiko Papilio rutulus Papilio zelicaon Phyciodes mylitta Phyciodes pulchella Pieris rapae Plejebus acmon Poanes melane Polites sabuleti Polygonia satyrus Pyrgus communis Rothschildia jacobaeae Samia cynthia advena Samia ricini Smerinthus cerisyi Smerinthus ophthalmica Strymon melinus Trichoplusia ni Uresephita reversalis Vanessa annabella Vanessa atalanta Vanessa cardui Unidentified Lepidoptera Hybrids Papilio glaucus × Papilio rutulus Papilio polyxenes asterius × Papilio zelicaon Orthoptera Melanoplus devastator Phaneroptera nana Pristoceuthophilus pacificus Scudderia mexicana Trimerotropis pallidipennis Phasmatodea Carausius morosus Phyllium giganteum Mantodea Mantis religiosa Phyllocrania paradoxa Hymenoptera Apis mellifera Bombus vosnesenskii Brachymeria ovata Linepithema humile Pediobius sp. Polistes dominula Xylocopa varipuncta Unidentified Diptera Lucilia sericata Unidentified Hemiptera Brochymena sp. Leptoglossus sp. Nezara viridula Odonata Argia vivida Libellula croceipennis Coleoptera Coccinella septempunctata Cycloneda polita Diabrotica undecimpunctata Hippodamia convergens Araneae (Class: Arachnida) Araneus diadematus Phidippus johnsoni |