Date: 04/04/2015

Number: 1

I turned over about fifty leaves before I came across this monarch butterfly larva. Looks like the FIRST INSTAR. It looks like it just ate its egg shell in the last twenty-four hours. Luckily the egg is gone because tomorrow is Easter!

The caterpillar has eaten a small area on the underside of the asclepias curassavica. There are an additional 26 plants nearby and about 20 more milkweed plants on the other side of the sidewalk. But this was the only and first caterpillar I have seen for 2015.

I found an additional three eggs, two on this plant and one egg on the plant next to this one. The egg is reported in a separate observation. Weather was a cool 67º in San Antonio today but warms back up again tomorrow.

You can see more photos that I shared on Instagram as user name @growmilkweed
https://instagram.com/growmilkweedplants/

San Antonio, TX

Latitude: 29.5 Longitude: -98.5

Observed by: bradford
Contact Observer

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