Metamorphosis Watch: Day 9
Three days ago, the monarch butterfly caterpillar was simply eating small holes out of the milkweed leaves, the caterpillar itself was hardly noticeably. Yesterday, it was chewing out entire sections and now it has grown to be an insatiable eater, it is working methodically on the entire leaf.
Today, the caterpillar should be brimming with the cardiac glycosides that make it toxic to most birds. There are 14 species of milkweed native to Tennessee. Some are too toxic even for the monarch, some really do not contain enough of the glycosides but that leaves three species the migratory butterfly rely on: common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca), swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) and butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa).
FDR seems pleased by the progress. He liked to see things move forward in a positive way. Albeit with all that roughage, Waldo produces the inevitable poo, or to be more proper, with insect larvae it is called frass.
Click for yesterday: Day 8.
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