- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Can a praying mantis catch a monarch?
Yes, it can. And yes, it does.
It was Sept. 14, 2013. As I approached a Vacaville supermarket, I noticed pink lantana blooming furiously near the entrance, and then, a familiar-looking butterfly quietly sipping nectar.
"Ah, there's a monarch," I observed.
I wasn't the only one watching the monarch.
A female praying mantis, Stagmomantis limbata, was watching it, too.
In a nano-second, it was all over.
A meal for the mantis.
One less monarch to migrate.
Yes, it can. And yes, it does.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
No, say many scientists, including Hugh Dingle, professor emeritus of entomology, behavior and evolution at UC Davis.
Professor Dingle is an internationally known expert on animal migration. He's researched animal migration for some 50 years. In the last 20 years or so, he has focused on monarch butterflies. He has authored two editions of Migration: The Biology of Life on the Move and some 100 papers. National Geographic featured Professor Dingle in its cover story on “Great Migrations” in November 2010. LiveScience interviewed him for its November 2010 piece on “Why Do Animals Migrate?” (See news story that includes his biographical information)
Professor Dingle, a resident of Marin County, responded to a recent front-page article in a Marin County paper about the California ban on tropical milkweed. Banning tropical milkweed, A. curassavica, will NOT save the monarch, Dingle emailed the reporter. In fact, he said, the ban will "essentially have zero effect on monarchs" and "no one should rush out and pull out their tropical milkweed as it would be a waste of time and effort. Nurseries should also be able to continue to sell it."
The professor shared this with Bug Squad:
- "There is not enough tropical milkweed planted to have much influence (see the amount of A. syriaca and A. fascicularis throughout the American West not to mention various other species like A. erosa, cordifolia, californica, etc.) Yes, there are parasites on A. curassavica as there are on ALL milkweeds."
- "There are populations of monarchs that are doing just fine feeding exclusively on A. curassavica (e.g. on many Pacific Islands, such as Guam where I have studied them."
- "Migration and the diapause that accompanies it in the fall are determined by shortening photoperiod and temperature (warm temps can override short days hence the issue with climate change). There is no significant influence of food plant."
Tropical milkweed has been in California for more than a century. It's along our roadsides, in our parks, in our gardens. If the California border were moved a bit, it would be a native plant. Yet the California Department of Food and Agriculture, influenced by native plant proponents, has deemed it a "noxious weed."
Professor Dingle is among many scientists who point out that milkWEED (despite the "weed" in its name), is NOT a noxious plant. If you're standing on the California-Mexico border, on one side it's a noxious weed (evil, dangerous, nasty, get-rid-of-it-now, how-dare-you) and inches away, it's a beautiful host plant for monarchs, and a great nectar source for monarchs and other pollinators, including honey bees, syrphid flies and hummingbirds.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife's ban on rearing monarchs (no one can do so without a permit) is unsettling to many. Entomologist Jeff Smith, who curates the Lepidoptera collection at the Bohart Museum of Entomology at UC Davis and is a member of the Lepidopterists' Society, reared a few monarchs as a child, but laments that today, no one in California can do so without a permit, and it's difficult to get a permit unless you're a researcher.
In the latest edition of the Lepidopterists' Society newsletter, Robert Michael Pyle (founder of the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation) and David Wagner wrote a piece, "Keep Nets in the Hands of Kids--and Others!"
An excerpt: "Give a kid a net, and watch her go! Not that the net is the only porthole into our world. For some it could be raising caterpillars or tadpoles, keeping mantises and walking sticks as pets, or examining ants, beetles, and grass- hoppers through a magnifying glass. But the common feature is having hands-on, unfettered exploration of the living world as children. Many life-science professionals, including RMP's cardiologist, ascribe their passion for life and nature to hunting bugs, crawdads, and pollywogs in their youth. This is why the Society instituted the Outernet Project, to get nets into the hands of children—a task made more difficult not only by the umbilical USB connection now present at birth and children's subsequent inseparability from electronica, but also by the loss of BioQuip. Is the coup de grâce for children's face-to-face fascination with small-scale life to be delivered now by well-intended but ill-considered regulation?"
So Very Controversial. Amazing that tropical milkweed issue has become so very controversial. You cannot post an image of a egg, caterpillar, chrysalis or a monarch on A. curassavica--a food and nectar source--without a native plant proponent attacking you and ordering you to remove that tropical plant in your garden immediately. (Never mind that you are growing native milkweed as well.) One scientist told me: "They just want to control you and bully you."
In our pollinator garden in Vacaville, monarchs prefer tropical milkweed over the non-natives. Tropical is more toxic.
Mona Miller, who administers the popular Facebook page, Creating Habitat For Butterflies, Moths, & Pollinators, related: "Monarch are resilient insects, they have so many strategies to increase their population, but they do have their limits. We must stop pulling out tropical milkweed and cutting it back. Washing off all milkweed should suffice to clean off the OE spores. I emailed several scientists, no one could tell me that OE (Ophryocystis elektroscirrha is a protozoan parasite) has any way to attach to milkweed leaves other than getting caught in the hairs. Tropical milkweed has smooth leaves. Tropical milkweed has been in California since 1909, that is over 100 years. Totally eradicating tropical milkweed, just like totally eradicating all the eucalyptus trees (non-natives), would have a detrimental effect on the monarch population--perhaps it already has."
Indeed, folks should pay more attention to habitat loss and pesticide use, the real culprits of the monarch population decline.
Bohart Museum Open House. At any rate, be sure to attend the Bohart Museum of Entomology's open house on monarchs from 1 to 4 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 4 in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, UC Davis. It's free and family friendly. A number of scientists will be there to answer your questions.
Scheduled to participate are:
- UC Davis distinguished professor emeritus Art Shapiro of the Department of Evolution and Ecology, who has studied butterfly populations in central California since 1972 and maintains a research website, Art's Butterfly World.
- UC Davis emeritus professor Hugh Dingle, a worldwide authority on animal migration, including monarchs. He is the author of Migration: The Biology of Life on the Move (Oxford University Press), a sequel to the first edition published in 1996. See news story on the UC Davis Entomology and Nematology website.
- UC Davis professor Louie Yang, who does research on monarchs. Due to parental duties, he may be able to attend only the last part of the open house. See news story about his work.
- UC Davis professor Elizabeth Crone of the Department of Evolution and Ecology, formerly of Tufts University, who researches monarchs. See news story about the declining monarch population on the UC Davis Entomology and Nematology website.
The Bohart Museum houses a global collection of eight million insect specimens, plus a living insect petting zoo (Madagascar hissing cockroaches and stick insects, among others), and a insect-themed gift shop. UC Davis distinguished professor Lynn Kimsey has directed the Bohart Museum, founded in 1946, since 1990.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
So here's this male monarch nectaring on a pink zinnia in a Vacaville pollinator garden.
The nectar is rich and he is as hungry as a migrant butterfly seeking flight fuel for the long journey ahead.
A painted lady, Vanessa cardui, apparently in an amorous mood, quickly approaches and touches down next to him.
Monarch: "Whoa! What's going on?"
Painted lady: "Oops! Wrong species, wrong gender. Sorry about that! I'm leaving!"
Monarch, spreading his wings and preparing to leave: "That makes two of us!"
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
A monarch on the move...
When you see a monarch foraging on a flower, have you ever seen them--or photographed them--taking flight?
It's not your iconic image of monarch, but a few twists and turns, jumble of colors and jagged lines, and the monarch takes flight.
Scenario: a male monarch nectaring on Sept. 4 on a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola, in a Vacaville pollinator garden.
He decides it's time to depart--maybe because he's had his fill of nectar, or maybe because male longhorned bees are becoming increasingly territorial, or maybe just because....
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Seen any monarchs lately?
A beautiful male glided into our Vacaville garden late yesterday and made himself at home on our Mexican sunflowers, Tithonia rotundifola.
He claimed the patch--"mine, all mine, all mine!"--until a honey bee buzzed by looking for nectar. When the bee edged too close for his comfort, Mr. Monarch relinquished his blossom and simply fluttered to another one.
Backlit against the setting sun, the monarch's iconic colors gleamed. It was a magical moment.
Mr. Monarch is on his way to an overwintering site, perhaps Pacific Grove. KSBW, a Salinas television station, announced that the first weekend count at the Monarch Sanctuary in Pacific Grove revealed that the monarchs are returning in "large numbers."
Large numbers? The tally on Friday, Oct. 21 totaled 3,823. "In 2021, only one butterfly was seen," the news story related. "In 2021, only one butterfly was seen. In 2020, zero butterflies entered the sanctuary during their entire annual migration. At the beginning of the year, the Xerces Society reported that 247,237 monarch butterflies were observed across the West which amounts to more than a 100-fold increase from 2020 which saw fewer than 2,000 monarchs."
Entomologist David James of Washington State University, who studies migratory monarchs (citizen scientists in the Pacific Northwest tag them) reported Oct. 15 on his Facebook page, "Monarch Butterflies in the Pacific Northwest," that "We now have our fifth long distance tagged Monarch recovery! Remarkably this one came from the same release as the previous one! So, two recoveries from a group of Monarchs reared and released by Gillian Gifford Short on September 28 in Ruch, Oregon. The first recovery (G6797) was found in Trinidad, CA about 100 miles SW from Ruch. The latest recovery (G6800) was found yesterday, October 14 in San Rafael, CA by Kelly...This individual did not fly coastward, instead flying almost due south for 295 miles. Still not done migrating, it likely has another 100 or so miles to go before it reaches a coastal overwintering site."
Safe journeys!