any picts blurry,awkkward or otherwise would be useful

Got one.

{{gwi:542150}}

Looks kinda diseased to me. :(

Jeff

Yes it does look kind of unhealthy. The Monarchparasites.com website says -

"About 3 days before the adults emerge, spores can be seen forming through the pupal integument. Infected adults emerge covered with spores, with the highest densities on their abdomens. Once hosts are infected, they do not recover. By the time adults emerge with parasite spores, all physical damage by the parasite has been done by this point  The parasites do not continue replicating on adults, and these dormant spores on adult monarchs must be eaten by another larva to continue development."

I have 1 chrysalis left out of 6 that is browner than the others, but it is the only cat that has pupated on a stick. I wonder if it was trying to match the color of the stick for the purposes of camoflage?

I started a thread a couple weeks back about a chrysalis that looked suspicious. It has more info.

Here is a link that might be useful: Do you think this is OE?

Oh, that does not look good.

No, it doesn't look good. But, I'm hopeful that because the dark patch is localized to one specific area of the chrysalis, it might be a false positive.

Over against that, the area NOT affected appears to be the area where the wings form, which would presumably also be the area where the spores would not be. :(

In any event, my plan of action is to allow eclosure, isolate and swab, and then make a decision based on what the microscope shows.

Jeff

One day later, the diagnosis seems clear: OE.

{{gwi:542151}}

I removed the affected chrysalis and put it into an empty cage. If it hatches, I'll try to get a spore count for reference purposes, and then euthanize.

Sadness.

Next question: is this the only one affected? (I'll wait and see). And why only one so far? Seems like the ones in proximity would have been affected, but no signs of it so far.

Jeff

I got a little impatient and decided that more could be learned by a dissection than by waiting for eclosure.

Observations:

* The chrysalis oozed a lot of greasy liquid on touch. Yech.
* I had believed, based on color, that eclosure was only a couple of days away. But inside, the pupa was amorphous "goo", filling only about half of the volume of the chrysalis shell.

{{gwi:542153}}

So either my time estimate was off, or this guy was completely devastated by his disease.

Jeff