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Sep. 18th, 2021 01:40 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
soc_puppetKinda stunned to learn today that relatives of the monarch butterfly are known for killing and eating larvae of their own species. Apparently it's a good way for the males to get extra milkweed juice in them? They can get it directly from the plants by scratching leaves and drinking the juice, but milkweed butterfly larvae have it more concentrated (and possibly easier to digest), and extra milkweed juice apparently makes male milkweed butterflies into super studs or something.
And I just. It's apparently been happening with milkweed butterflies in Asia, and I'm left to wonder, is this what's been happening to the monarch butterfly caterpillars around here? Because I've seen some over the past few years, but they've all been disappearing before I see any chrysalises! And I know that lacewing larvae can eat monarch butterfly eggs, but I thought that the caterpillars were still relatively immune to predation due to tasting like milkweed, which most other animals think tastes terrible? But if it's the actual grown butterflies doing the killing and eating, that would explain it.
Anyway, the article I saw didn't mention monarch butterflies specifically, so I may be jumping to conclusions that are fragile at best, but I am definitely perplexed as to where all the caterpillars have been going. Do I need to start raising them inside once they hatch? I'm prepared to do it!
Sigh.
And I just. It's apparently been happening with milkweed butterflies in Asia, and I'm left to wonder, is this what's been happening to the monarch butterfly caterpillars around here? Because I've seen some over the past few years, but they've all been disappearing before I see any chrysalises! And I know that lacewing larvae can eat monarch butterfly eggs, but I thought that the caterpillars were still relatively immune to predation due to tasting like milkweed, which most other animals think tastes terrible? But if it's the actual grown butterflies doing the killing and eating, that would explain it.
Anyway, the article I saw didn't mention monarch butterflies specifically, so I may be jumping to conclusions that are fragile at best, but I am definitely perplexed as to where all the caterpillars have been going. Do I need to start raising them inside once they hatch? I'm prepared to do it!
Sigh.
