Monarch laying eggs. Unusual date/location - Danaus plexippus - 32.129739°,-97.856936°, Somervell County, Texas, USA September 10, 2013
Large fresh looking Monarch. Had a few fine scratches on dorsal wing surface. Seeing one here in September is fairly rare. We normally have zero between May and October. Peak Migration southward is mid-October at this location. I have seen some in Sept in some years. I have observed a mating pair once in August and a couple times in October but never before laying eggs.
I have images of this one laying eggs at five different locations. I found eggs on four of them with a quick check. Then a heavy rain shower forced me to take the camera inside.
After the shower I found over 20 eggs on those plus other nearby plants. However most of these are almost certainly Queens, since I see them in this area several times daily.
Most of the Milkweed are A. asperula. They have resumed growing in the last couple weeks as the second growing season begins. But I'm unsure of the one pictured. The Monarch chose it and it does bleed latex. The leaves are similar to asperula, though tapered at base rather than squared off. Several other characteristics are not typical of asperula. But that may change as it grows larger.
Images of this individual: tag all Contributed by Gregg Lee on 14 September, 2013 - 11:27am Last updated 15 September, 2013 - 1:01pm |