Monarch Butterfly Eggs * Danaus plexippus
Finding the beauty around us
Monarch Egg on Narrow Leaf Milkweed, Ojai, California
Original image 30.4 Mp - Cropped image 2792 x 1952
Follow the Monarch Life Cycle - Monarchs Lay Eggs on Milkweeds often on the undersides of the leaves, but they can be found on the stems and tucked between the flowers too. The eggs take a week, sometimes more to hatch. This is temperature dependent. Once they hatch into a caterpillar they begin feeding. The caterpillars go through 5 stages. The caterpillars are often refered to by their stage like Cat 1 or Cat 4. There are specific developmental markers for each stage. This transformation is pretty amazing. From egg laying to eclosing as an adult can take a month or more. Next stage is the Monarch 1st Instar or Cat 1 Monarch Caterpillar
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Photographs by Martin Fletcher