Date: 08/22/2024

Number: 2

Help me investigate this..
Whooo! Some good new citizen science observations.
A migrator and a summer breeder in the same shot from the same batch of eggs reared in identical indoors conditions. These two butterfiles, as caterpillars, hatched out at identical times from their eggs. This is telling evidence.
That means the Gen 3 to Gen 4 environmental factors might have been actively influencing the females who deposited these eggs at the time they were laid on one day, and not from any effect on the caterpillars once they hatched. The small milkweeds the eggs were found on were in close proximity to each other in location. Ovipositing date estimates for this batch we figure as having been between July 24 and July 28. If only I knew which exact day these eggs were laid.
So, is the physical change over to a Gen Four butterfly development track started as an egg in outdoor conditions? Or as a caterpillar?

Hopkins, MN

Latitude: 44.9 Longitude: -93.4

Observed by: Patti
Contact Observer

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