Date: 09/10/2013

Number: 1

About 16:30 saw one adult flying. Landed on nectar flowers and also laid eggs. Large female. Wing scales were not faded, and overall looked fresh. Some scratch marks on dorsal wings as though made by tip of a thorn or spine.

This is the first time I have seen egg laying by any generation other than the overwintering generation. I have seen mating pairs in the fall but no eggs. I have images of this Monarch laying eggs on four different plants, all A. asperula. The image I am sending is on a small plant that barely supported the Monarch.

A heavy rain shower chased me (or rather my camera) inside before I could check plants for eggs. After I found eggs on 3 of the 4 plants visited. However some are likely to be Queen eggs, so no egg count. I checked other nearby plants for eggs and found a total of 21. But it is virtually certain that most of these are from Queens, which I see in the same area several times daily.

About the Milkweed. A. asperula is the only milkweed that I have observed Monarchs using here. No other Asclepias species emerges early enough for spring migration. It is abundant March-June, then normally browns out in summer heat, then reemerges as the second growing season begins. None of the plants visited by this Monarch were obvious two weeks earlier. A. viridis emerges beginning in late April and is utilized by Queens throughout the summer. A few viridis emerge before Monarchs have completely departed to north, but I have never found a Monarch egg on a viridis. Other milkweed species are uncommon at this location.

Chalk Mountain, TX

Latitude: 32.1 Longitude: -97.9

Observed by:
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