By Reba Kocher
Listen to this blog post here: Monarch_Migration.mp3
Even though it hurts me to say this, this will be my last lepidoptera post for awhile! But don’t worry, I am sure they will be back. Today, I want to share with all of you a REALLY cool fact about Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus). We all know how wonderful the Monarch migration is each year when hundreds of thousands of butterflies return to Ohio. The Monarch is the most recognizable butterfly, but did you know that the Monarchs you see in Ohio are 5th generation butterflies?
Monarchs have a really interesting migration pattern. It takes five generations for the Monarchs to leave Mexico and make it back to the Northern U.S. and SOuthern Ontario. Females who spend the winter in Mexico will lay eggs of the first generation, and the adults emerge in late April or early May. This generation of butterflies mates and begins to lay eggs only four days after emerging from their cocoon. The second generation of butterflies appear in the Southern U.S. in early May then lay eggs in June or July. This generation begins to move north because the dry, hot summers of places like Texas are too harsh for the livelihood of the eggs. Third generation monarchs are the most interesting because there are two different paths their lives can take depending on when they’re born. The early third generation produces offspring (fourth generation) that will then lay eggs along the northern U.S. that will then make the long thousand mile journey back to the mountains of Mexico. The late third generation actually goes into reproductive diapause, which means that their reproductive organs remain in an immature state. They will not be able to produce offspring, instead they just drink nectar and pollinate flowers for us. The fifth generation Monarchs that migrate to Mexico lay the eggs to restart the cycle. What makes this so unique is that each generation of butterflies go places that their parents and great-grandparents have never been, and yet they always end up exactly where they need to be. Nature really is amazing!
A Monarch on Milkweed from the All-A-Flutter Butterfly Enclosure Exhibit.
Watch an awesome video about this from PBS here! https://wosu.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/tdc02.sci.life.reg.monarch/migration-of-the-monarch/
References & Further Reading:
https://monarch.ent.iastate.edu/5th-generation-monarchs-what-do-we-know-and-not-know