Interesting link, Melanie regarding the protozoan parasite of Monarchs. I see mostly Queens around here, but imagine the parasite would infect them too. I'm not growing the Tropical Milkweed on purpose. It just appeared one day, and I tend to just leave it alone wherever it pops up if it's not interfering. However, I have been planning on setting up a small plot of them specifically for the benefit of my almost-four-year-old granddaughter. She loves butterflies, of course (don't all kids?), so I wanted to be able to show her the caterpillar, chrysalis, then butterfly transition.
Hey, maybe with growing some pipevines, I'll be able to show her the ugly-duckling transformation of Pipevine or Gold Rim butterflies! Hadn't thought of that until just now. I did a bit more checking on that gold "necklace" on the Gold Rim caterpillar, and apparently that is a diagnostic feature. Remembering which has two sets of antennae/filaments and which has three sets on the Queen vs Monarch caterpillars is difficult, but a "gold rim" on a Gold Rim caterpillar should be easy even for me to remember!
Anyway, I'll keep the "trimming the Tropical Milkweed" notion in mind for the future.
