Reproductive Monarch in september

[aragorn]

Hello. I order from breeder and tag 400 Monarch every year (montreal, Quebec, Canada), but i saw a few mating last week-end (1-2 and 3 september); so i'm wondering...Is there some that are reproductively mature at those dates, so they won't travel?!?

Aren't they supposed to be in sexual diapause

I checked in the litterature, and the only thing i found was that they weren't able to mate (because in diapause_«Immature» «sexually speaking»).

Or will the ones that reproduce that late will have time enough to migrate (that's meaning they will become adult between mid-october, or later...)

I'm trying to find that information on a few articles wrote by Lincoln Brower but didn't find anything yet

hope to get answer/clue...If i do i'll post them!!!

[jacqueline stearns]

I actually have 3 caterpillars that just hatched Sept 4 2007 here in Mississauga, ON (Toronto) and I am wondering if it will be too late to release the when they eclose or what should I do with them.

I have a friend who travels down to Pennsylvania every week if that is far enough south he could take then or there is the Niagara Butterfly conservatory.
Hope someone can advise me. My daughter's Kindergarten clss is currently enjoying them.

[Mona Miller]

There are Monarchs that are still reproductive in the fall and I believe that they are also pushed further south with those in diapause.

I have seen Monarchs mating along the coast in the fall. Apparently, there is a bit of mating along the way and in Mexico, but no egg lay with those that are truely in sexual diapause. Their reproductive organs are in a juvenile state and do not start growing until spring when they will remigrate to the US.

If the breeder did not give them natural outside conditions they will not go into sexual diapause. The diapause is trigger by day length, temperature, and quality of host plant.

When raising Monarchs that you hope will travel in the fall, you need to give them natural conditions as much as possible.