Clinton Community Nature Center

Monarch Development
Monarch Adoption
Rearing a Monarch

Watch Our Monarch Develop

THE MONARCHS ARE HERE!!!

The first documentation of monarchs arriving in Clinton, MS in 2007 was reported on March 23, 2007 at 1:30 p.m. A female was observed laying eggs at the Choctaw Trails site and 44 eggs were recovered from 50 milkweed plants inspected. This is the earliest recorded arrival for this area since monitoring began in the mid-1990's.
A new photograph of the CCNC Monarch will be published here approximately daily, so check back often. Scroll down for photos.
Photos are by Bill Stark.

Click on photo for larger image.

NO PHOTO

DAY 1
March 23, 2007

Egg collected.

DAY 2
March 24, 2007

No apparent change.

DAY 3 March 25, 2007

DAY 4
March 26, 2007

No apparent change.

DAY 5
March 27, 2007

Still, no apparent change.

DAY 6
March 28, 2007

Note the upper end of the egg is darker as the larva prepares to hatch.

DAY 6
10:30 a.m.
March 28, 2007

The Monarch larva hatched between 10 and 10:30 a.m. this morning, March 28. This image, made at 10:30 shows the dark headed 1^st instar with ghostly egg shell adjacent to the larval tail.


DAY 7 March 29, 2007 Dark rings around the body are apparent providing clear evidence of feeding activity.	DAY 8 March 30, 2007 Late yesterday our larva was transferred to fresh milkweed leaves. A subtle hint of yellow can now be seen between the black rings.	DAY 9 March 31, 2007 In this lateral view, the projecting anterior filaments are clearly visible as short black growths behind the head, and a shorter posterior pair can be seen near the tail. True legs (3 short stubby ones on the thorax) and prolegs (5 black lumps under the abdomen) are also apparent.	DAY 10 April 1, 2007 Striping is more prominent, particularly on the head and the anterior and posterior filaments are somewhat larger on our actively feeding larva.	DAY 11 April 2, 2007 Our larva seems somewhat shy this morning but it reacted to a rude bump (from the careless photographer) by coiling into a C-shape. After a minute or two it resumed feeding and had assumed this more normal position.	DAY 12 April 3, 2007 Fresh food sometimes means another C- shaped beginning.	DAY 13 April 4, 2007 Abdominal banding is very distinct and filaments continue to elongate during the 2^nd instar growth period.


DAY 14 April 5, 2007 The larva spent the night on the wall of the container but quickly resumed feeding when placed on fresh milkweed this morning.	DAY 15 April 6, 2007 The larva has entered its 3^rd instar following another molt yesterday.	DAY 16 April 7, 2007 Looks like its time for more fresh milkweed.	DAY 17 April 8, 2007 The larva, now 1 inch long, is a major “eating machine”, capable of consuming daily an entire milkweed stem with several leaves.	DAY 18 April 9, 2007 Yesterday the dark head indicated the larva was preparing to shed its skin again. The bright head stripes today indicate the molt is complete and the larva is in the 4th instar.	DAY 19 April 10, 2007 An interesting shape to three of the pale stripes is evident on our larva. Two of these are located on either side of proleg 4 and the third is in front of proleg 3. If you review images from previous days you may be able to determine when these markings became obvious.	DAY 20 April 11, 2007 Those odd patterns mentioned in yesterday’s post can be traced from the earliest larva where color patterns become evident. However, these patterns become very conspicuous around day 15. The larva is now more than an inch and a half long.


DAY 21 April 12, 2007 It’s anticipation time! Our larva should be nearing the end of this developmental phase and entering the pupal phase soon. It’s hard to predict when this will occur but watch for changes in the next 48 hours.	Day 22 April 13, 2007 The larva has climbed to the top of the container and will soon (probably later today) hang in the J-position prior to putation.	Day 23 April 14, 2007 J-time is here. Our larva is hanging by the tail from a silk pad. Sometime in the next few hours it will shed its larval skin to reveal the green chrysalis which will have formed underneath.	Day 23 1:30 p.m. April 14, 2007 By 1:30 p.m. the metamorphasis to the pupal stage was complete and the chrysalis now hangs by a black stalk from the top of the container. It will remain there for the next 10 – 14 days until emergence as an adult. To minimize stress on the monarch we will post out next image on 20 April 2007.	Day 30 April 20, 2007 The chrysalis is about halfway through its development but still looks about the same as it did on April 14.	Day 37 April 27, 2007 The chrysalis is now slightly discolored indicating emergence is near.

Day 38

8:00 a.m.
April 28, 2007

A fully developed adult can be seen through the transparent chrysalis at 8 a.m.

A female monarch hangs from its chrysalis just 30 seconds after emerging with typically crumpled wings. Within a few minutes the wings appear full sized but are still too soft for adequate flight.

Day 38

Noon
April 28, 2007

It’s a male, but we missed the emergence despite periodic checks during the morning. The specimen emerged between 11:30 a.m. and noon.

Day 38
Noon
April 28, 2007

We moved the male to Butterfly Garden and liberated him on milkweed.

	Clinton Community Nature Center 617 Dunton Road Clinton, Mississippi 39056 601.926.1104 ccnaturecenter@gmail.com