Date: 04/08/2013

Number: 1

I noticed a milkweed (A. asperula )with 2 monarch eggs on an immature flower. When I looked closer there were either 5 or 6 eggs on the plant. (One appeared to be skin of an already hatched egg.) Since Monarchs are said not to "load" plants with eggs unless milkweed is scarce, this seemed odd since many plants with no eggs were a few yards away. (There are thousands of milkweed plants on our property.) Earlier I had found one with two eggs.

It occurred to me that both plants were sheltered from the strong south wind that has been blowing for several days. Maybe it is too difficult to land to lay eggs on plants exposed to high wind.

So I checked milkweed that was in other sheltered areas. In a few minutes I found two more plants with eggs. One had two eggs and one had three.

So there were at least 12 eggs found in less than 1 hour. It would have been much faster if I had not stopped to record several images at each.

Another interesting thing is where the eggs were located. Four were located on immature flowers, five on top of leaves and three on bottom of leaves. Conventional wisdom is a preference for bottom of leaf. But A. asperula sprawls near or often in contact with the ground, especially early growth. So it may be that reaching the underside of the leaf isn't possible. I have included one image of the entire plant with 5 (or 6) eggs. I will send close ups by email if you want them. In this image the plant is around 18 inches wide. The dead stems are previous year growth that died back over the winter.

Chalk Mountain, TX

Latitude: 32.1 Longitude: -97.9

Observed by:
Contact Observer

The observer's e-mail address will not be disclosed.
Contact will be made through a web-based form.