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Monarch butterfly
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Monarch egg
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The first day I saw this caterpillar on my Pink swamp milkweed, it was very tiny, less than a centimeter long. A day later it looks like it is already a bit larger. The monarch caterpillars go through five instar stages before they pupate.
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Brand new Monarch caterpillar
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This is a second stage instar of the Monarch caterpillar. They grow quickly.
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Middle stage instar. I have to keep crushing the aphids that love the milkweeds; they suck the juice out and weaken the plant until it dies. New crops seem to rise up overnight.
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Two days later it has almost doubled its size. They seem to stay hidden on the bottom side of the leaf, although they are already toxic from eating the milkweed plant.
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Same caterpillar, larger view. Now they are 11 mm long.
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Same caterpillar, closer view, 11 mm long.
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Second instar on the more tender leaves of the pink swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata).
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Eating away.
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The second caterpillar, "hiding" beneath the leaf.
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Getting bigger. You can see how much of the leaf is eaten.
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Now a week old and 25mm long.
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Now a week old and much larger (25mm).
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This is the final instar; soon it will be ready to pupate.
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Monarch caterpillar
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Monarch caterpillars on the White swamp milkweed (Asclepias perennis) flower.
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Full grown Monarch caterpillar
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Ready to pupate.
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Monarch caterpillar
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We built this container for the black swallowtail caterpillars; now I took out the old parsley plants and put in the milkweed plants with the Monarch caterpillars on them.
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Instar shed its skin to go up to a larger size
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First chrysalis!
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Two Monarch caterpillars in the J position getting ready to turn into a chrysalis in the next 24 hours.
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Brand new Monarch chrysalis.
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Three stages of pupation; the middle chrysalis is about a week old, the other one just emerged, and the caterpillar in the background will probably pupate the next day.
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Chrysalis ready to eclose
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Week old chrysalis ready to eclose any time now
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Newly emerged Monarch butterfly
