The Monarch butterfly population is declining due to decreasing habitat in Mexico and the USA. You can help the Monarch planting milkweed in yards, gardens and open areas in the Monarch migration paths. There are vacant lands where seeds of milkweeds and wild flowers can be planted, this includes roadsides and power line right-of-ways. This year the monarch started their migration north, but the climate prevented milkweed plants from maturing enough to provide leaves for female butterflies to lay eggs and to feed the newly hatched caterpillars. Starting milkweed plants inside, then replanting them outside for the migrating butterflies to use will help sustain the Monarch butterfly population. Harvesting Milkweed seeds in the fall will provide seeds to plant in the spring. Your area may have seen a decline in Monarch butterflies. Monarch eggs, caterpillars and chrysalises can be purchased online or from local butterfly farms.

1. Monarch Butterfly Life Cycle
*Thump* *Thump* Is this Mike on? Quiet Please!
International Internet Collaboration
Sid, photographer and writer, 76 years old living in New Zealand,
Chuck, PowerPoint creator, 77 years old living in Florida, USA.
My name is Chuck Melvin, I am 77 and have Parkinson’s. Please visit
our website at: http://www.butterflylifecycle.net

2. Monarch Butterfly Life Cycle
My name is Chuck Melvin, I am 77 years old and have
Parkinson’s Disease. My wife, Marsha, and I have married
for 35 years. We need your help to pay for my increasing
medical bills. Please visit our website:
www.ButterflyLifeCycle.net
My e-mail address is
ChuckMelvin@ButterflyLifeCycle.net
Please e-mail me to make suggestions or
comments on how to improve our website.

3. Monarch Butterfly Egg
Please visit Flickr and leave comments at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kiwinz/3351368918/

4. Monarch Butterfly Caterpillar
Please visit Flickr and leave comments for Lynda Tanner at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/goingslo/2211013441/in/set-
72157603816746097

5. Monarch Butterfly Chrysalis
Please visit Flickr and leave comments for Lynda at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27948818@N05/3159260742/in/set
-72157625489927354/

6. Monarch Butterfly
Please visit Flickr and leave comments for David and Rose Slater at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/davrozs/4246357793/in/set-
72157608514512609

7. The next 20 slides illustrate the Monarch Life Cycle. All the Photos
and technical writings were created by Sid and posted on Flickr.
Sid Mosdell, contributor to Flickr
Go see Sid’s genius on Flickr.
leave glowing comments
http://www.flickr.com/photos/
sidm/sets/72157624547070910/
Sid’s Bio - I'm 76, married, and have lived
with my wife in Picton (a small seaside town
of about 4000 in the South Island) since
retiring from the rat-race in Auckland
(New Zealand's biggest city) 11 years ago.
I've been a fairly keen amateur photographer
since my teen years. My switch from film
to digital occurred about 8 years ago and
I discovered on-line photo sharing via Flickr
about 5 years ago. My two current cameras
are a Micro Four Thirds format Panasonic
Lumix and a Panasonic Lumix FZ150.

8. Monarch Butterfly
Female Monarch butterfly deposits an egg onto the underside of a
milkweed (swan plant) leaf. The butterfly usually lays its eggs on
leaves but occasionally they are found on milkweed stems. Last
year I posted three photos of a monarch caterpillar's transition to
a chrysalis. Unfortunately at that time I never did get around to
expanding the series any further. Now that we're well into a wet
mid-winter here in New Zealand I've had some time to sit indoors
and sift through my Monarch photos. This is the first of twenty
images depicting stages in a Monarch's life cycle.

9. Monarch Butterfly Egg
A Monarch butterfly egg on the stem of a Swan Plant milkweed.
This egg (about the size of an aphid) took eight days to hatch.

10. Monarch Butterfly Caterpillar
This tiny (1/6” long) eating machine has very recently hatched. Its
first meal was to nibble at the shell of its egg and now it is tackling
the leaf of a Swan Plant. It is still too small to penetrate through
the leaf but within a day it will start leaving tell-tale gaps in the
milkweed's leaves. When a caterpillar outgrows its skin it molts, or
sloughs off, its old skin. The stage between molts is an instar.
Monarch caterpillars have five instars.

11. Monarch Butterfly Caterpillar
Monarch Caterpillar— Second Instar.
The caterpillar is now three days old and 7/16” long.

12. Monarch Butterfly Caterpillar
This Monarch caterpillar, now into its fifth instar and about 2” long,
has just shed its skin. The skin, which can be seen lying on the
leaf behind it, is usually eaten by the caterpillar shortly after
molting. This caterpillar's next molt will result in a chrysalis.

13. Monarch Butterfly Caterpillar
Monarch caterpillar on a Swan Plant milkweed, fifth instar, about
2 3/16” long and close to pupation. It is now about three weeks
old. however this time-span depends very much on temperature
and can vary considerably. When they are ready to pupate the
caterpillars tend to wander around, sometimes relatively far afield,
presumably in search of a suitable chrysalis-friendly site.

14. Monarch Butterfly Caterpillar
The Monarch caterpillar readies itself for pupation. It has spun a
cushion of silk by which it attaches itself to a suitable surface and
hangs head-down in a J-shape.

15. Monarch Butterfly Caterpillar
After being suspended from its silk cushion for about 18 hours the
Monarch caterpillar starts to straighten out. This is the prelude to
shedding its larval skin for the last time. Look carefully at the
image and you will see the skin just starting to split behind its
head before being pushed upward.

16. Monarch Butterfly Pupa
By wriggling, as well as rhythmically contracting and expanding, the
Monarch larva (caterpillar) pushes its skin upwards. The jade green pupa
(chrysalis), at this stage still very soft, can now clearly be seen.

17. Monarch Butterfly Pupa
The pupa now starts wriggling and gyrating energetically to finally
dislodge its skin. This Monarch took 12 minutes to complete the
molting process.
.

18. Monarch Butterfly Pupa
This beautiful new jade-colored Monarch pupa is still soft and
wrinkled. Some areas of the adult butterfly-to-be are already
apparent. Within the next 1 to 2 hours its casing will harden,
smooth out and assume the familiar shape of a mature chrysalis.

19. Monarch Butterfly Chrysalis
The Monarch chrysalis, now smooth with a hard wax-like casing, is
a lovely jade green color with gold spots, hence the name
'chrysalis', from the Greek word 'chrysos' for gold.

20. Monarch Butterfly Chrysalis To Butterfly
Shortly before the butterfly is due to emerge the Monarch chrysalis
darkens significantly and the orange color of the wings can be
clearly seen through its casing.

21. Monarch Butterfly Chrysalis To Butterfly
The transparent casing of the chrysalis has now cracked open and
the Monarch butterfly is emerging, clinging with its legs to the
casing to protect itself from falling to the ground. The pupal stage
of the Monarch is usually from 10 to 14 days long. However the
time-frame is dependent on the season and the ambient
temperature. This pupal stage lasted for 23 days.

22. Monarch Butterfly Chrysalis To Butterfly
Still clinging to the empty shell the damp Monarch butterfly pumps
fluid (hemolymph) from its distended body into its wings. In this
photo the wings are slowly expanding but are still quite stubby and
wrinkled.

23. Monarch Butterfly
The newly emerged adult Monarch butterfly still retains a firm grip
on its empty chrysalis shell.

24. Monarch Butterfly
Seven minutes have elapsed since this adult Monarch butterfly
emerged from its chrysalis. The butterfly's wings have expanded
but have yet to harden properly.

25. Monarch Butterfly
A newly emerged adult Monarch butterfly, its wings fully expanded
and by now probably fully hardened and functional, slowly makes
its way upwards towards a high point on the Swan Plant milkweed.

26. Monarch Butterfly
About two hours after emerging from its chrysalis this beautiful
adult Monarch spreads its wings in preparation for its first flight.
The butterfly in this photo is a male. Males have a clearly visible
black spot on each hind wing from which pheromones are
released. The next image in this series, also of a recently emerged
adult Monarch, is a comparative photo of a female.

27. Monarch Butterfly
Freshly emerged from her chrysalis this female Monarch will soon
make her first flight. The webbing on a female's wings is thicker
than the webbing on a male's wings and females do not have the
black spots on the hind wings that are a characteristic of males
(see previous photo in this set).

28. End of Our
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