Split proboscis??

[TNTMonarch]

While observing our female Monarch whom my daughter has named Aurora, I noticed her proboscis is split into two ends like a snakes tongue. She was able to move these two ends separately. Our male however has just one long straw proboscis.

I was wondering if anyone knows if this is common, a known but rare genetic variation, or if we might have a mutation on our hands?

I have already hypothesized that a split proboscis would be very useful in drinking nectar from small tightly bunched flowers such as the ones on a butterfly bush as one could get to two flowers at once, increasing efficiency.

Of course it may also be that a straight proboscis is rare in Monarchs. All of my Painted Lady's probosces were straight so I'm going on the assumption that that is normal and may be wrong as we know features can vary from species to species.

[Jim]

The proboscis is actually a paired structure - you can think of it as a straw that is split in half. One of the first things a newly emerged monarch needs to do is "zip up" its proboscis so that it will be able to feed. Continuing with the straw analogy, you would certainly have a difficult time trying to suck up a beverage using a straw that was split in half; similarly, if a monarch is unable to completely zip together the two parts of its proboscis it may have a difficult time feeding.

Additional info at http://www.monarchwatch.org/update/2002/0910.html#6

[TNTMonarch]

Thank you for the information.

These little creatures just get more and more amazing. She did get her proboscis "zipped" up fine and I fed her yesterday using a medicine dropper as neither she nor our male seemed to be figuring out the nectar feeder.