Monarch Caterpillar Feeding
At this point (5th instar) the caterpillar eats like crazy! Of course it actually increased in size 33% to 100% day over day every day except the two days that it spent all day resting getting ready for molting.
Length (mm) of Monarch (D. plexippus) larva each day post-hatch. Two days (day 8 and day 12) no length measurement was recorded as the larva remained essentially motionless on the side of it
Classification
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Arthropoda
- SubPhylum
- Hexapoda
- Class
- Insecta
- Order
- Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths)
- Family
- Danaidae (Milkweed Butterflies)
- Genus
- Danaus
- Species
- Danaus plexippus
Life Photo Meme
Posted on September 12th, 2008 under Arthropoda, Insecta, Lepidoptera, Life Photo
Tags: Danaus plexippus, instar, Monarch Butterfly. 
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September 13th, 2008 at 10:57 am
WOW…. ok, this is the best blog EVER. I am SO enjoying seeing this!
September 13th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
@Kate:
Thanks a lot Kate!!
My plan is to use this a library of sorts for the organisms I know or learn about as I do it, and provide the same information to Johann and anyone else who wants it!
Right now it’s focused on the Monarch because of our opportunity there, but I have a few marine organisms to highlight waiting in the wings.
September 18th, 2008 at 8:51 pm
I can’t believe how fast it grew…Only 25 days from egg to butterfly? Love the graph too, talk about a smooth exponential growth curve.
September 20th, 2008 at 12:50 am
@Brine Queen: It did grow very fast. Interestingly the monarchs are currently beginning their migration here, so its timing was spot on.
Next time around I’m hoping we’ll be able to find and raise monarchs from the non-migratory generations as well.