Finally I can thank peanut M&Ms for something other than my sagging butt – my craving had me out in the kitchen during the last 30 seconds of metamorphosis. Here’s the monarch crawling away from her chrysalis.
You can see the top of the chrysalis at the bottom, but here’s a close-up:
This next shot is a bit obstructed, but the colors as the wings unfold are worth seeing.
If you click on the picture to blow it up, you’ll see blue spots toward the bottom of the wing. There is no information in my butterfly books or online about blue spots on a monarch’s wing. Has anyone seen these before or know anything about them? When butterflies first emerge their wings are wet. Maybe the wings were still wet here, and the spots are merely an effect from the camera’s flash. Some other markings to take notice of are the wing veins.
This picture was taken this morning. The wing veins can help determine the sex – the thicker the vein, the more likely it is female. That’s what I’m thinking with this one but can’t be sure until she opens up for me. Males have scent glands on their hind wings that look like two black dots; females do not. Keep checking in for confirmation!
Dang, M&Ms! Sorry you missed the birth/emergence but better luck next time. Take good care of your host plants — only milkweed for Monarch’s, right? — and you should have lots more caterpillars and chrysalis to watch over. Once, I had three from one big and healthy milkweed plant from Miraposa.
By the way, how do you tell a Monarch from a Queen butterfly? I can only tell them apart as caterpillars — the Queen has ‘horns’. I think. The chrysalis look exactly the same to me. The butterflies are also very similar…