Monitoring Results

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Predators

Ants, several Hemiptera (true bugs), coccinelid beetles (ladybugs), cockroaches, spiders, wasps, lacewing larvae and red velvet mites have all been observed eating monarch eggs or larvae.

Red velvet spider mite
consuming a monarch egg

Stinkbug consuming a 4^th instar monarch
(photo courtesy of Anurag Agrawal)

However, quantification of mortality from these predators is inconsistent or lacking, with a few exceptions.  Bill Calvert found that milkweed plants were exposed to fire ants, monarch survival from egg to 5^th instar was reduced by 93% when compared to plants from which fire ants were excluded (Calvert 1996).  Likewise, Michelle Prysby found that monarch survival was higher in cages that excluded predators in a Wisconsin prairie (Prysby 2004).

References