Thanks for looking and for the link, Henk! Whie summer breeding can make up for some of the losses, the total population is significantly smaller than 2 or 3 decades ago. Fortunately, there are places where Monarch are active and continue to breed all year round, including Hawaii and parts of Florida, so there is little chance of extinction. The mass migration of the Eastern Monarchs to Mexico is, however, what makes the species unique and so fascinating. If that is eliminated, or greatly reduced, that would be a tremendous loss.
Dan Matyola *https://tinyurl.com/DJM-Pentax-Gallery <https://tinyurl.com/DJM-Pentax-Gallery>* On Sat, Jun 11, 2022 at 4:32 AM Henk Terhell <henk.terh...@gmail.com> wrote: > Interesting information Dan. > Here some positive news on monarchs in an article on NBC: > > https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/monarch-butterfly-populations-may-stable-previously-thought-rcna33016 > > Henk > > Op za 11 jun. 2022 om 06:39 schreef Daniel J. Matyola < > danmaty...@gmail.com > >: > > > Each Monarch larva goes through five stages of growth, called instars, > > between the time it hatches from the egg until it enters the pupal stage. > > The larva molts at the end of each instar, so that it can grow into the > > next stage. During this process, it eats only milkweed foliage, and grows > > to almost 2,000 times its original mass. > > > > A late fifth instar Monarch will then crawl away from the milkweed plant > it > > was feeding on to find a secure location, where it forms a silk pad and > > hangs upside down in a J shape, before shedding its skin one last time to > > expose the bright green chrysalis. > > > > In this image, the larva on the right has attached its pad to the edge > of a > > clay flower pot, and has drawn itself up into the classic "J" shape. On > > the left is one that has completed the final molt to expose its > bejewelled > > green chrysalis. > > > > > > > http://dan-matyola.squarespace.com/danmatyolas-pesos/2022/6/11/metamorphosis > > > > K-5 IIs, smc DA 35 mm F 2.8 Macro Limited > > Comments, criticisms, questions, and suggestions are invited and > > appreciated. > > > > Dan Matyola > > > > > -- > %(real_name)s Pentax-Discuss Mail List > To unsubscribe send an email to pdml-le...@pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and > follow the directions. > -- %(real_name)s Pentax-Discuss Mail List To unsubscribe send an email to pdml-le...@pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
