Occasionally, someone who has been attracting monarch (Danaus plexippus) butterflies by planting milkweed will happily come across what seems to be a miraculous white or pink monarch butterfly chrysalis.
It is magical...and not what it seems.
Chrysalis Variations
There are some butterflies, especially swallowtails, that can make their chrysalis (or pupa) in two colors. These butterflies can make a green chrysalis or a brown chrysalis, both of which can serve as fantastic camouflage on a plant with brown branches and green leaves.
The adult swallowtail butterfly that emerges will look the same, whether the chrysalis was green or brown.
Some research has indicated that there are photo receptors built into pupating caterpillars of the swallowtail family that informs them of the colors nearby. With this information, the pupating caterpillar is able to make it's chrysalis to blend in, with either brown or green coloration.
Caterpillars have different survival methods and monarchs don't do it the same way swallowtails do. Except for in rare genetic mutations, pupal color variations are not normal for monarchs. They have one color of chrysalis. You may be familiar with their beautiful jade pupa with gold flecks.
What Does a Pink Pupa Mean?
A pink butterfly chrysalis that looks similar to a monarch pupa is likely to be a different species. In the southern US, both monarch butterflies and queens (Danaus gilippus) will feed on milkweeds. Queen butterflies are a distant cousin of Monarchs. They are in the same genus, but are a different species.
Caterpillars of queens will feed alongside the monarch ones. If you look closely you can see the differences. They are both yellow, black and white, but queen caterpillars can also have red marks. Queen caterpillars have three sets of tubercles where as monarchs only have two.
There isn't a ton of research on why the queen pupae have such color variation. It is not likely that they are utilizing photo receptors to mimic a pink environment the way swallowtails can. If you have info on this, please contact me and I will update this blog.
For a more detailed description of queens and monarchs, check out my post.
When you see the chrysalises side by side, you will notice that the monarch chrysalis is larger.
Not all queen butterfly chrysalises are pink. They can also be jade like the monarch. Queen chrysalises sometimes range from white to pale pink to brighter pink. They are delightful!
Whether the pupa is white or jade or pink, the adult queen butterflies all have the same colors.
Monarch Cousins Around the Globe
Did you know that there are other butterflies around the world that feed on milkweeds?
This lesson is from my Attract Monarch Butterflies class and can be viewed in its entirety for free on YouTube.
Milkweed is a wild plant that proliferates quickly (thus the term "weed"). There are dozens of species of it around the globe, many of which host butterflies.
If you have milkweed and are attracting monarchs in the southern US, keep your eyes open for a pink butterfly chrysalis. One day you may get a treat.
My milkweed brings all the bugs to the yard,
Jessica
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