Date: 12/05/2008

Number: 1

This is not about a sighting, but a question about monarch parasites. I need help identifying a parasite I have observed that kills the pupa. It appears to be deposited as an egg in the caterpillar. When the parasite is a full grown larva, it emerges through the skin of the pupa. Within a few days it forms its own pupa. The only one that I have been able to hatch looks a great deal like an ordinary house fly. The monarch pupa then turns black and never emerges.

I have several of the parasite pupae and one adult collected in summer of '07. If there is anyone who can give me information about this, I would appreciate it.

waynesville, NC

Latitude: 35.6 Longitude: -83.1

Observed by: joanne
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