Monarch Joint Venture Grant Reprint 2018 Magnificent Monarch

Inside: Flowers: Butterfly Beacons Tagging & Tracking Monarchs

Photo by Beth Waterbury Let’s talk about... The Monarch Butterfly

he monarch butterfly is beautiful and They like to lay only one egg on a plant. If she Tamazing. It is so special that it became can’t find enough milkweed plants to lay one Flowers: Idaho’s state insect in 1992. egg per plant, she may lay more than one egg One thing that makes the monarch so incredible per plant or may lay fewer than 400 eggs. The Butterfly Beacons is that it migrates! Idaho’s monarch butterflies eggs are tiny; they are about the same size as fly to western California and possibly Mexico the head of a pin. Depending on the weather, the to overwinter. They feed on the nectar of eggs hatch in 3-5 days. flowers until winter comes. Then they enter a The tiny monarch caterpillar will eat its egg case state like hibernation. Hundreds of thousands as its first meal. Then it will switch to milkweed of butterflies cluster together on trees to stay and grow quickly. During their two weeks as a utterflies and plants need each Most butterflies like flowers that warm. When spring arrives, the monarchs start caterpillar, the monarchs get 2,000 times bigger Bother. Butterflies sip nectar are pink, red, purple and yellow. their trip north. and shed their skin from flowers. As they sip, butterflies Butterflies may like flowers that are These butterflies five times. pollinate the flowers. Plants have these colors, but butterflies may not do not reach Then it is time developed many ways to attract see the same colors as people. For Idaho. They will for a big change. butterflies to their flowers. example, butterflies may not see the die along the way, The caterpillar Some butterflies like plants that have color red. Butterflies are drawn to but they lay eggs finds a safe place lots of small flowers close together. red flowers because of the ultravio- that will hatch into in vegetation to Clusters of flowers let the butterfly let light the flowers reflect. a new generation make a chrysalis. sit and sip nectar from many flowers Flowers are more than just beautiful. to continue the The caterpillar’s without having to move. This helps The flowers we enjoy with our eyes trip. After two or salivary glands are the butterfly conserve energy while and noses also look and smell good three generations, adapted to make it’s eating. to butterflies. The flower’s shape, monarch butterflies silk. It spins a small Most butterflies and insects can color, scent and secret ultraviolet arrive back in pillow on the back see a kind of light called ultraviolet patterns all come into play. They Idaho. of a branch where light. Ultraviolet light is something are beacons, landing platforms and Another thing that it hangs from its that humans can’t see. If you looked launching pads for pollinators like makes monarchs abdomen. The at a flower under a purple light, it butterflies. special is they can caterpillar sheds its would look differently than it does in Next time you see a butterfly eat a plant called skin one last time. daylight. The purple light allows you drinking from a wildflower, think milkweed. Milkweed It then dissolves its Photo by Beth Waterbury to see patterns on the flower that about why the butterfly chose that contains toxins. tissues into a green reflect ultraviolet light. You would flower and not another one. Some Not very many animals can eat this plant, but caterpillar soup inside a clear casing. Within an see lines of white going down the things might be easy to see; others monarch caterpillars love to eat milkweed. As hour, the chrysalis looks like a jade-green jewel flower petals. It’s like the flower has may not. The butterfly is getting a they eat milkweed, the toxins build up in their with gold and black spots. airport runway lights to guide insects tasty treat and getting dusted with bodies. The bright colors of the black, white and After two weeks in the chrysalis, the adult to and from the nectar deep inside pollen. This helps the plant produce yellow striped caterpillar and the orange and monarch breaks free. It pumps fluid into the the flower. seeds. Both butterfly and plant help black adult serve to warn predators that they veins in its wings. This helps the wings unfold each other to survive. carry toxins and taste terrible. If a bird or other and become stiff. The monarch is now ready to predator tries to eat the monarch, it will get a fly and drink nectar from flowers. big surprise. Smart predators learn not to eat an insect that tastes awful. This will not help the Monarch butterflies are truly remarkable. They monarch that was the bird’s lunch, but it will make an amazing change from caterpillar to help other monarchs from becoming a meal. adults like other butterflies; they also make an incredible journey that takes them all the way Like all butterflies, monarchs change throughout across the country. Monarch butterflies have their lives. An adult female lays about 400 eggs earned the honor of being Idaho’s state insect! on the leaves and flower buds of milkweed plants. They don’t lay all the eggs on one plant. Photo by Beth Waterbury What’s an Insect? Most insects breathe through tiny holes on their abdomens called spiracles (SPIR-i-kels). Insects hey are on the ground, in trees, in soil and that live in water would drown if they had spiracles, Tagging & Tracking Tin your house. They make up about 80 so some water insects breathe with gills just like percent of all known animal species on fish. Other water insects have a sort of snorkel Earth. Insects are all around us. they stick above the water to breathe air. Sometimes any small creepy crawly is Insects have an exoskeleton. An exoskel- MONARCHS called an insect, but to be an insect an eton is a hard fingernail-like covering he amazing migration of the monarch net. Netting a monarch is challenging—they’re animal must meet three important rules. on the outside of the insect’s body. The butterfly was a mystery until a clever very skittish and can see in all directions. Once They must have three main body parts—the exoskeleton is divided into separate pieces T scientist came up with a great idea. Why not the butterfly is in the net, biologists reach in and head, thorax and abdomen, six legs and called plates. The plates fit together like a place a small sticky tag on a monarch’s wing and gently remove the monarch with its wings folded two antennae (an-TEN-ee). puzzle and are held together with soft see if that tagged butterfly is seen again during together. The monarch is examined to determine flexible membranes. The membranes work The head of an insect has the eyes, its migration? That idea led to the discovery of a its sex and note the condition of its wings—are like rubber bands. They allow the insect to antennae and mouthparts on it. site in Mexico where millions of monarchs from they raggedy and faded or fresh and strong? move its body. The exoskeleton can only Insects have two large compound the U.S. and Canada gather to overwinter each The fresh monarchs are best for tagging. eyes. Compound eyes are faceted. flex. As insects grow, their exoskeletons year. But where do monarchs born in Idaho go A sticky white tag—about the size of an M&M They have more than one lens or surface. become too small. Insects need to shed their when they migrate? candy—is firmly pressed on the underside of the Compound eyes look a bit like a exoskeletons, just like snakes shed their skins. Idaho biologists and volunteers are trying to monarch’s hind wing, so when it perches, the honeycomb. Insects may also have Insects come in all shapes and sizes. Hairy answer that question by tagging monarchs. tag is very visible. The tag is printed with a serial up to three simple eyes. You have winged beetles and fairyflies are some of By knowing the pathways taken by migrating number and email address so the observer can simple eyes. A simple eye has one the smallest insects. They can fit through monarchs, actions can be taken to protect and report the sighting. The number of tags that are surface or facet. Without moving their the eye of a needle! The longest insect is restore the habitats they rely on along their actually reported is quite small in any one year. heads, many insects can see all around a 14-inch stick insect found on the island of journey. But you never know….maybe a tagged monarch themselves. Borneo. Atlas moths in India have wings that are 12 Tagging a monarch is not as easy as it sounds! will cross your path! The thorax, or middle part of an insect, is where inches across. Goliath beetles found in Africa are First you need to capture them in a butterfly the wings and legs are found. All adult insects some of the bulkiest and heaviest. They can be as have legs, but not all insects have wings. But- big as a baseball. The giant weta, a cricket found in terflies have four wings. New Zealand, is the size of a small bird. Wow, what diversity. Insects sure are amazing animals!

jewelry and beads. Insect products are even used to make medicines to fight off infections A Bug—Squish It!! and help with painful arthritis. ften when we think of insects, we think Insects are valuable scientific tools. They have Oof things that bite us, sting us or suck our been used for studying ecology and genetics. blood. Sometimes it is easier to see the harmful Because grasshopper and cockroach nerves are things that insects do and not see their benefits. similar to humans, they have been used to test Can you imagine a world without insects? Sitting the affects chemicals might have on people. around a campfire may be a bit more pleasant, Insects are important parts of the food web. but other things would also be affected. Our Bats, skunks, raccoons and fish are just some lives would be very different. It is unlikely that we animals that eat insects. Insects are also would be able to survive on Earth without insects. important decomposers. Think of all the dead Insects help make the food we eat. Insects trees, dead animals and animal poop there pollinate more than 200 kinds of crop plants just would be with no insects to help clean things up. in the United States. Take away insects and there Have you ever stopped to watch a butterfly would be no carrots for salads, no watermelon on a flower? Many people like to watch and or apple pie, no vanilla or strawberry ice cream. photograph butterflies and other insects. People We would also have a world without chocolate. in China even keep crickets as pets! A tiny fly, no bigger than a pin head, pollinates cacao flowers. Chocolate is made from the seeds Next time you feel like squishing an insect, found in the cacao seed pod. think about what the insect does for you. You may think twice about smashing that bug. Well, There would be no honey, silk, inks or dyes. maybe not mosquitoes! Insects and insect parts are used to make Photos by Idaho Fish and Game Photo by Colleen Moulton Nature’s Is It or Bugged Transformers Isn’t It? About Fishing ften nature can be deceptive. Sometimes nsects are fascinat- Oanimals, especially insects, will look or act like Iing creatures. From another insect or object to avoid being eaten or to their beautiful colors to sneak up on their prey. Mimicry is the word we use their interesting behaviors, insects when animals resemble each other; camouflage is are worth watching. This is especially the word used when animals look like inanimate true if you like to fish. Many insects are objects, like rocks or leaves. important food sources for fish. Insects like mayflies are fish food in all of their The viceroy butterfly is a master of mimicry. It life stages. Others, like grasshoppers, mimics the monarch butterfly to avoid being eaten might become fish food if the insect by predators. Predators that have eaten a monarch ends up in the water. By observing the learn that orange and black butterflies are to be insects living around a pond or stream, avoided. Who wants to eat something that will you can get a pretty good idea of what make you sick! the fish might be eating. The viceroy butterfly looks very similar to the When you arrive at your fishing spot, monarch. It is also orange with black veins on its spend some time carefully watching wings. There are only a few differences that set for insects. What do you see in the Photo by Becky Hansis-O’Neill them apart. Size is one difference. The monarch shrubs along the bank? Are any butterfly is big. Its wingspan is three to four Insects that have complete metamorphosis have insects sitting on the top of the water? an you think of an animal that changes the inches. The viceroy is smaller. Its wingspan is only four stages in their life cycle – egg, larva, pupa Can you see any nymphs crawling Cshape of its body as it grows? How about two and one-half to two and three-fourths inches. and adult. The young and adults live in different around on the rocks under the water? a butterfly? They change from crawling insects The viceroy also has a thin black stripe that runs habitats and often feed on different food. But- Is anything buzzing around you? that chew their food to beautiful, flying insect through the middle of the hind wings; monarchs terflies are in this group. Butterfly life stages that drink their food. What a change! They go don’t have this stripe. There are even small differ- Once you find some insects, take a are given special names. The larva is called the through a metamorphosis. ences when the butterflies are flying. The viceroy look at the flies or lures you brought caterpillar, and the pupa is called the chrysalis. There are many kinds of metamorphosis in glides with its wings held horizontally to the body. with you. Try to find something that the insect world. There are insects that make Many people think that metamorphosis The monarch holds its wings at an angle. might match the insects. People who developed so that each life stage lives in a fly fish often have large collections of big changes, like the butterfly. This is called Only the adult viceroy uses mimicry. The caterpil- different habitat. That way the young insects and flies to choose from. Many of these complete metamorphosis. There are other lar doesn’t look like a monarch butterfly at all. adult insects do not have to compete with each flies look a lot like insects. By carefully insects that don’t seem to change at all. This is The viceroy caterpillar looks like bird poop. No other for food. comparing their flies to the insects called simple metamorphosis. predator would like to eat a bird dropping! Next they see, fly fishermen and women can Insects with simple metamorphosis have three Metamorphosis is amazing to see. If you find a time you think you see a monarch. Look a bit choose a fly that imitates the insects life stages—egg, nymph and adult. Simple chrysalis, leave it outside, but look at it everyday. closer. It could be a clever viceroy deceiving your the fish might be eating. With just the metamorphosis is broken into three kinds. The You may be able to see the insect changing eyes. right fly, you have a better chance of first is insects that have no metamorphosis. They and developing inside. It is fun to see what will catching a hungry trout! look the same when they are nymphs and adults. emerge! None of these insects have wings. The second If you enjoy fly fishing, you might is incomplete metamorphosis. Dragonflies are want to try tying your own flies. This is in this group. Insects in this group lay their eggs where your observations of insects can in water. The nymphs are called naiads (NI-ads). come in handy. If you take a visit to a They live in the water and breathe with gills. The fly shop, you will see flies that look like adults do not live in water and do not breathe mayflies or grasshoppers or midges with gills. The last kind of simple metamor- or bees...the list goes on and on. Who knew that becoming an insect expert phosis is insects with gradual metamorphosis. The viceroy has a thin black Grasshoppers are in this group. The nymphs and stripe that runs through the could also help you become an expert middle of the hind wings; angler? adults look pretty much the same, and they live monarchs don’t have this stripe. in the same habitats. Photo by Beth Waterbury Monarch Butterfly Crossword

WORDS Complete Crop Insects Migrate Milkweed Mimics Silk Spiracles State

Ultraviolet Across 2. The viceroy butterfly ______the monarch to help protect it from predators. 6. Insects get the oxygen they need through ______. 7. The monarch butterfly is Idaho’s ______insect. 8. Butterflies go through a ______metamorphosis. Down 1. Monarch butterflies travel up to 3,000 miles when they ______. 2. The toxins in ______build up in the monarch’s body and make it awful to eat. 3. Insects pollinate more than 200 kinds of ______plants in the United States. 4. This is the only arthropod group with three body parts. 5. Butterflies can see ______light reflected off flowers. 7. Monarch caterpillars can spin ______from their salivary glands.

WILDLIFE EXPRESS Monarch Joint Venture Grant Reprint 2018 of Volume 25 • Issue 8 • Monarch Butterfly • April 2012

Wildlife Express is published nine times a year WE WOULD LIKE TO HEAR FROM YOU! (September-May) If you have a letter, poem or question for Wildlife Express, by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game it may be included in a future issue! Send it to: [email protected] Lead Writer: Adare Evans or Layout: Kelly Kennedy Yokoyama Wildlife Express, Idaho Fish and Game Contributors: Lori Adams, Vicky Runnoe, Beth Waterbury PO Box 25, Boise, ID 83707