white monarchs.

[Keith Petrosky]

I find this so amazing! If they could breed more of these, if it benfits the monarch, well that would be incredible. Im so happy to see a white monarch, thanks Jim, Anne, and monarch watch for the great pictures. Couple of questions though. What do the larvae look like, and will predators try and eat a white monarch, since it has no warning colors?

[Jim]

The larvae appear normal. As far as predation is concerned, we just don't know - as Chip mentions in the article, the contrasting black and white on a large butterfly may still have value as a warning pattern.

Be sure to check out the other article on our site at http://www.monarchwatch.org/read/articles/nivosus.htm

Pretty neat stuff!

[Keith Petrosky]

Very neat indeed, I hope one day I can see one in the wild.

[Teresa]

I'm interested also, is a white monarch a good thing or a bad thing? Seems to me it's some kind of defect?

[Jim]

I'm interested also, is a white monarch a good thing or a bad thing? Seems to me it's some kind of defect?

I suppose it depends on what you call a "defect" The white form is due to a genetic mutation and the rarity of the white monarch suggests that these "mutants" are not as fit as their orange counterparts (though the white monarchs seem to be "normal" in all other respects). Curiously, in the late 80s/early 90s white monarchs rose to nearly 10% of the monarch population in Hawaii (Oahu); however, incidence has dropped since. As Chip mentioned in the update article:

http://www.monarchwatch.org/update/2006/0131.html#4

there are many questions yet to be answered about monarchs and this unique mutation could be used to help answer some of them. So at this point I wouldn't label the white monarch as a bad thing - there is so much more to learn!

[Teresa]

What would happen if two whites mated? would all the babies be white?

[Keith Petrosky]

I think possibly 50% would, but i'm just guessing. If monarch watch sold white monarch larvae to the public, they would make alot of money, which can then go to purchasing more tags so customers can tag more monarchs, which will help the research at the University Of Kansas.

[Jim]

What would happen if two whites mated? would all the babies be white?

Since white pigmentation seems to be a recessive trait only those that are homozygous express it; therefore, 100% of the offspring from a cross of white monarchs would be white. Take a look at the table at

http://www.monarchwatch.org/update/2006/0131.html#4

and replace the heterozygous (Oo) parents with homozygous (oo) ones - this should help you visualize what's going on.

You can liken the white form of the monarch to the classic (though somewhat oversimplified) genetic example of blue eyes in humans...simply speaking, blue eye color is recessive (represented by a lowercase "b") and brown is dominant (represented by an uppercase "B") so individuals can be described as:

BB = homozygous dominant (genotype) = brown-eyed (phenotype)
Bb = heterozygous dominant = brown-eyed
or
bb = homozygous recessive = blue-eyed

Using the simple 2x2 table referenced above, you can illustrate the following crosses:

BB x BB = 4BB (genotype) or 100% brown-eyed (phenotype)
Bb x Bb = 1BB:2Bb:1bb or 75% brown-eyed & 25% blue-eyed
bb x bb = 4bb or 100% blue-eyed

QUIZ: Can you figure out which crosses I left out and what the expected resulting progeny ratios would be?

As you can see, two brown-eyed parents can have blue-eyed children, but two blue-eyed parents cannot have a brown-eyed child; similarly, two orange monarchs may mate and give rise to white offspring, but matings between two white monarchs cannot result in orange offspring. Make sense?! Ok, class dismissed.

[Jim]

If monarch watch sold white monarch larvae to the public, they would make alot of money, which can then go to purchasing more tags so customers can tag more monarchs, which will help the research at the University Of Kansas.

Hmmm...I'll have to see what I can do

[Keith Petrosky]

Great, I hope it is possible.