Learning about the OE spore
Learning about the OE spore
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Do you wonder why butterflies seem to chase one another?
There is a reason for that. Butterflies do not see images as we do, they see in pixels.
In order for them to know whom they need to fight with for territory or court with to mate with they chase the other butterfly. As they are chasing, the...
Here is a close-up look at the Cremaster of the monarch chrysalis. Ever wonder how it is attached to the silk? As you can see, there are tiny curled barbs at the end of the cremaster and as the newly formed chrysalis is wiggling it is catching the silk with those little barbs.
(Photo credit: Rik...
As part of the research project butterflies are tested (for OE spores) and tagged. By tagging the butterfly we hope to learn their flight pattern, how long they are living with/without the OE (Ophryocystis elektroscirrha) spore and the possible relationship to the particular specie of milkweed be...
Read MoreIf you spot a tagged butterfly in Florida go to 1tag.org to report it. We have had several of our participants monarch's spotted since the launch of the project in April 2019. If you would like to participate you can send an email to: florida.monarchreproject@gmail.com
A big THANK YOU to Jillian at WPTV for the wonderful coverage of our efforts to save our resident Monarch copy and paste link to your browser: https://www.wptv.com/news/protecting-paradise/new-effort-to-save-monarch-butterflies-in-florida
If you become a participant in the project you may fall into one of two categories.
1) You do not raise monarchs. You could simply net wild monarchs, test, tag and release them.
OR
2) You are alread...
Florida Monarch Research and Educational Project is a non profit project and would like to invite all Florida residents to become volunteers and participate in the research of the rapid decline of our resident monarch. We have lost 80% of our resident population since 2005.
We need participant...