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Look

out for

Monarchs

I Spy...

Become a “citizen scientist” – observe monarch butterflies

by Bob Brockie

You’ve probably seen lots of butterflies in your garden during the warm months of the year. In New Zealand, scientists are gathering data about monarch butterflies. They want to find out where the butterflies fly to and from – and where they go in winter.

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Have you seen a monarch butterfly?

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I Spy...

Table of contents →

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Biologists and ecologists make observations and collect data over long periods of time, and often over large areas. They study all of the data and look for patterns. This is how biologists and ecologists make some of their most exciting discoveries. These scientists need your help!

About the monarch butterfly

Monarch butterflies lay their eggs on swan plants. The eggs hatch to become larvae, which we call caterpillars. Over time, the caterpillars change into pupae and then into butterflies.

Life cycle

The diagram on this page shows a single insect going through four stages of life. At each stage, the insect looks different, but it is still the same individual insect – even when it is an egg.

2. caterpillar � (larva)

1. egg

4. butterfly

3. chrysalis� (pupa)

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Close up of an egg

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Monarch names

The scientific name for the monarch butterfly is Danaus plexippus. In te reo Māori, monarch butterflies are sometimes called kahuku.

There are over 40 Māori names for different kinds of caterpillars – that’s more caterpillar names than in any other Polynesian language.

A monarch butterfly was once called a King Billy. A king or queen is called a “monarch”.

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This butterfly has emerged from

this chrysalis.

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Butterflies stay alive by feeding on nectar, which they suck out of flowers with their long, coiled tongues.

In summer, the pupae turn into butterflies. The butterflies usually live for 60 to 70 days. Monarch butterflies don’t like the cold, so in winter, they fly north to somewhere warmer. They crowd together and spend most of the winter hanging by their feet from the branches of tall trees. On warm winter days, they fly around, feed on nectar, and enjoy the sun. These “overwintering” monarchs can stay alive for about 8 months – until the following spring.

You may see a monarch butterfly with a little paper tag glued to its hindwings. Scientists who want to find out how far butterflies can fly – and where they go – glue on the tags.

Each tag has a different number on it. The tags weigh almost nothing. The scientists glue the tags to the hindwings so that people can see the tags when the butterflies close their wings.

When a butterfly comes out of its chrysalis, it spends hours drying its

wings. The best time to tag a butterfly is when its wings are dry but before it flies away. The tag is stuck on with special glue.

Scientists found one tagged monarch butterfly that had flown all the way from Lake Taupō to Whangārei – a distance of 400 kilometres – in only 3 weeks.

How do the scientists know

this? Where do they get this data from? It comes from people like you. People who help scientists to gather data are called “citizen scientists”.

Tagged monarch butterflies

forewings

hindwings

tag

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Overwintering tree, Port Waikato

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Help gather data!

Help scientists learn more about the monarch butterfly in New Zealand by becoming a citizen scientist!

You can help the scientists by gathering the data they need. For their research, scientists want to know whenever you see a tagged and numbered monarch butterfly anywhere in New Zealand. Every bit of information is useful.

Report any sighting by filling in the information form from the Monarch Butterfly New Zealand Trust. You can find this form online at: www.monarch.org.nz/monarch/introduction-to-research/report-a-sighting/

On the form, write down:

the date and time of day you saw the butterfly
where you saw the butterfly, for example, “in my garden” or “in the school playground”
what the butterfly was doing, for example, flying, feeding, or being chased by a bird
whether there was a tag on the butterfly and the number that was on that tag (if you could see it)
if you saw a lot of butterflies, how many you saw.

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Go online to report a sighting of any butterflies and moths you see in New Zealand.

Glossary

biologists – scientists who study living things

data – information

ecologists – scientists who study how living things relate to each other and to their surroundings

hindwings – rear wings

larva (one), larvae (more than one) – the stage in an insect’s life between being an egg and being a pupa

pupa (one), pupae (more than one) – the stage in an insect’s life between being a larva and being an adult

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Acknowledgments

The photograph on slide 3 (left) Pseudopanax is in the public domain.

The photograph on slide 4 (top right) © Jacqui Church and the image on slide 5 © Monarch Butterfly New Zealand Trust http://www.monarch.org.nz are used with permission.

The photograph on slide 4 (bottom left) “A tagged Monarch Butterfly” © Anna Barnett from http://www.flickr.com/photos/29827386@N03/5630473775 is subject to a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic licence.

The photograph on slide 1 “Danaus_plexippus_in_Secret_Woods” © Korall from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Danaus_plexippus_in_Secret_Woods.JPG is subject to a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported licence.

All the text, images, and photographs in this article may be copied, distributed, displayed, and revised in all media by teachers and students. Please attribute the work to the writers, illustrators, and photographers, where appropriate.

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