We live in Wisconsin, and we also see evidence of Ophryocystis elektroscirrha, aka OE, here. Every summer I collect a small number of monarch eggs, and hand-rear them to adulthood. To lower the chance of infection, I wash all the milkweed leaves under running cold water, and then dry the leaf, before it gets fed to the caterpillar. When I see clear evidence of OE infection, such as dark patches on the chrysalis, I put the chrysalis in the freezer to kill it. It seems like the humane thing to do. I think that Wisconsin winters kill the OE protozoan, which is why there is usually a period in the early summer when monarch cats are free of the infection. You can see the spores on the outside of monarch eggs with low power magnification, maybe 100X, although I have never done this. There might be a way to clean the egg of OE spores, before the monarch cat hatches out. I'm not sure about that, though.

Being from VA, I'm not sure I would survive a Wisconsin winter!

Thanks for the advice and encouragement.

Am I correct in hoping next year may have a lower rate of infection?

I did some more research into this pathogen, and learned that the spores are pretty tough, and likely can survive in the soil over a typical winter. However, these spores in the soil are less likely to cause infection, because monarch butterflies and caterpillars are not likely to touch the soil. It would be helpful to cut down your milkweed this fall, leaving only the root to regenerate next spring. The first wave of monarch females to visit your milkweed in the spring are less likely to be infected with OE, at least, that statement is true for Madison, WI. It is easy enough to collect some monarch eggs, and hand rear them to adulthood, one caterpillar per jar. I use one quart glass Mason jars for this purpose. On top is a piece of standard hardware store screen material(fiberglass) held down with a rubber band. When the monarch cat is ready to pupate, it will climb up to the screen, and fasten itself there. I do a lot of handwashing and glass cleaning, in addition to rinsing off the fresh milkweed leaves in cold running water. I think you can raise healthy monarch butterflies successfully, but I suspect that you will have to hand-rear, much as I do.

Humm. I'll keep a closer watch next year and bring in the first ones I find. I'll sterilize the milkweed, too. Last year the milkweed died to the ground and I cut off the stems. I had a tropical milkweed this year, which was the first one to be eaten. I don't think it will come back, but I saved lots of seeds to plant next year.

I usually hang out in the Roses Forums and was pleasantly surprised to find the Butterfly Garden Forum. Thanks for helping me with my newbie Monarch questions! Evidently all garden critters need some care. I thought all I had to do was plant the milkweed and they would come. (Which they did.) Not everyone is as fortunate as me in that aspect. Took me a few years to figure out which roses would survive with minimal care in my garden, might take a few years to get the Monarch "cultivation" going, too.

Maybe I should look at OE like other garden diseases, in that some years are worse than others. Maybe next year will be a cleaner year.

I think it is very likely the caterpillars will touch the soil. I had so many cats this year, I left a lot of them out to fend for themselves. I'm always fighting crabgrass in my front milkweed patch so I spend a lot of time there on my hands and knees. Quite often, I found monarch cats in the grass immediately surrounding the milkweed patch. I believe they were down there to shed their skins. To get to the grass, they would have had to crawl down the milkweed stalk and then cross the dirt to the grass.

I suggest putting in tropical milkweed if you are having OE problems.

KC

Here is a link that might be useful: Host plant species affects virulence in monarch butterfly parasites

That's good to read, KC - I'm glad I've got so much A. curassavica.
Sherry

Eric,

like you, I always wash the leaves off but I never dry them...just shake them off a bit (especially if there are SMALL cats as they could drown in standing water)

the cats love the water and you can watch their little heads go back and forth as they are lapping it up. This also keeps the milkweed fresh longer. I also have up to 8 cats in a cage at one time.

of course, I always clean out frass and wipe the cage down before putting new leaves in.

As far as I know, I have never had an outbreak of OE in 30 years.

I'm sure your method works in protecting them...but it also creates a lot of unnecessary work. Just sayin' Tony

KC, that was an interesting article. I'll plant more of the tropical milkweed next year.

I would be interested to hear about the experiences of some VA folks--how much OE they have had and whether or not there are OE free Monarchs in my area, Rockingham County. Maybe someone could point me to a website . . .

How do I pronounce the scientific name of OE? I like to throw out scientific names upon occasion. It's always good for a startled look. Makes me feel smart, at least for a few seconds!

I can tell you how I pronounce Ophryocystis electroscirrha, but its been a long time since I sat in Latin class. Here goes: o FEAR yo SIS tis ee LEK tro SCEER ha. Impressive, huh?

GR, I have read that butterfly breeders dip the eggs in a 10% chlorox solution. You might try this to see if it works. Then you would need clean milkweed for growing, such as potted Tropical MW, or leaves you have washed. You could dip egg and leaf in the solution and then air dry. It's just a thought that might provide you with healthy butterflies.

Also, when I cut a Tropical MW stem to feed the cats, I keep it in water until it has rooted and replant it. Gives me more food and a head start for next spring.

Does it indicate the little cats are infected if they have the blurred stripes on their little bodies? When I bring them in to raise, their little bodies/ colors and stripes stay bright but I've noticed on the ones I've had to leave outside that they look rather dull and the stripes/colors of their bodies look a bit dirty.

~Mary

Mary,

It's my understanding that caterpillars that have black spots on them can have OE. It may be something else. I'm going to give you a link that has lots of information about Monarch diseases.

Here is a link that might be useful: Monarch Diseases

I am also going to include a link for disinfecting eggs. This is from a breeder.

Here is a link that might be useful: Disinfecting eggs

Ericwi; Where did you find reference to OE surviving freezingg? I have looked and not been able to find a scientific reference. I know that Edith is conducting experiments to determine if the OE spore does survive freezing. We have not had a response from Dr. Altzier's lab on this particular issue.

I do know that OE is seen in increasing numbers as the summer goes on. Which makes sense if it is building up in monarch populations over the summer. It is probably most likely that the caterpillars get contaminated by eating their egg shells and as the summer progresses the spore load on the eggs gets higher and higher as the adults become more contaminated. Research has indicated that the number of spores on the egg contributes to how infected the adults are.

Miss Sherry and KC; I recently read a paper that indicates that aphid infestation may have a effect on the anti-OE properties of A. curassavica. Apparently, milkweed stops producing cardiac glycosides in order to make aphids more palatable to predators. Thereby increasing the potential transmission rate of OE.

There is also some evidence that infection with OE may prevent parasitism in Monarchs. That the relationship is actually mutualism. So, while we may be tempted to eradicate this disease, there may be a benefit to it.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1567134810003199

-Elisabeth

Here is a link that might be useful: aphids and OE

Dear Elisabeth(bananasinOhio), I have not found any reference to support the claim that spores of Ophryocystis electroscirrha can survive winter temps in Wisconsin. My understanding is that in general, spores are pretty tough, and can survive in difficult environments. Even if a few spores do survive the winter, how would they get up onto a milkweed leaf where they would be in position to be eaten by a monarch cat? It may be that there is a reservoir of OE spores in the soil, most likely in southern states. Even if that is true, it's not clear how the spore would get into the monarch adult, or monarch caterpillar.

Some of my chrysalises this year have developed black spots a couple days before turning transparent. Aside from one that darkened and died early, so far what looks like healthy butterflies have eclosed from the chrysalises. They've had no problem hanging or flying, and have clean looking abdomens.

This doesn't mean they don't have OE - this year I'm taking a stab at collecting a few samples from the abdomens using clear tape. I don't have a microscope but asked my son if he would take them to his lab (he is a biotech student) and look for OE.

KCclark that was an interesting study, it's too bad they didn't compare more than 2 species of Asclepias. I always fatten the 4th and 5th instar cats using either A. curassavica or A. syriaca, both of which have abundant "milk" when you cut the leaves and stems, and so I assume they have high levels of cardenolides.

Terrene;
A. syriaca actually has less cardenolides than many other milkweeds (check out the link below). However, monarchs are able to concentrate cardenolides as long as they are present. The table in the link does not include A. curassavica, however, A. curassavica has a high level of cadenolides in comparison to A. syriaca. A. syriaca has way more latex sap than others. This actually poses a problem for first instar caterpillars as many are lost to the sap.

Thanks Ericwi. I was just wondering because I haven't found anything yet. Yes, the mode of infection is typically vertical, through eating the spores. As I stated above, through eating the egg shell. The spores are then lysed through the alkaline environment of the caterpillars gut, where they then migrate through the gut wall to reproduce asexually. They then form spores after sexual reproduction,during the development of the pupa.

-Elisabeth

Here is a link that might be useful: concentration of cardenolides

Ericwi, I printed out that AWESOME tongue twister. I can't wait to rip that one out! I've already started practicing!

I wondered how the ladybugs were eating the aphids and thriving. I thought the ladybugs had become immune to the milkweed toxins. I never thought that the plants might be producing less toxins! Nature sure is amazing. The people who do the research deserve some kudos, too!

I have ideas to help me raise at least a few healthy butterflies. I can grow more A. curassavica, attack the aphids, and disinfect the eggs (provided I can find them).

Cool Elizabeth, it looks like A syriaca is on average in the middle of the pack, although I assumed it would be higher. This year I collected a lot of A. syriaca from the wild to feed the bigger cats - those big leaves provide a lot of food.

I grew a nice sweep of A. curassavica this year, about 2 dozen plants, and I cut and used about 3/4 of them for cat food. Didn't cut 6 of them so they could flower and hopefully go to seed (iffy in this zone) and because they look pretty! Next year I will grow even more, since it has all those cardenolides for the Monarch babies.

Anybody have any thoughts about the idea that is discussed on some websites, that A. curassavica is "bad" for Monarchs because it's not native to temperate zones of North America?

Great info at the links on this thread.

I have not read anything that would suggest that A. curassavica is unhealthy for monarchs. What I have read is that it is invasive in warm climates and that in these climates it does not senesce (die down in winter). The problem is that when monarchs encounter these plants they stop migrating. See below.
-Elisabeth

Here is a link that might be useful: monarchs and A. curassavica

The tops of my A. curassavica die back in winter, but they return from the ground in early spring with all new stems and leaves, so I guess that makes mine okay, then?

I left the second batch of cats to fend for themselves outside, just moved them to the honeyvine when they had eaten all the A. curassavica. I found this chrysalis with a black spot - does it have OE?
{{gwi:538912}}
Sherry

Looks good to me. Your spot is on the outside. Probably is the result of some injury. OE develops inside the chrysalis, right against the cuticle. Typically the chrysalis will turn sort of a pea soup green or even brown. Yours is such a lovely shade of green!
-Elisabeth

Revised pronunciation for Ophryocystis elektroscirrha: o FIRE yo SIS tis-e LEK tro SCEER ha. It's been 46 years since I studied Latin, & I was not a star student.

That's good to hear, Elisabeth. I found another chrysalis on the pump house! :) They choose such interesting places to pupate!
Sherry

Hee hee That's why Latin is a dead language. No one can remember how to pronounce it! I had a chance today to rip out the first pronunciation and chickened out. My neighbor was suitably impressed with OE and protozoan, though. She asked if I was a teacher. I was showing off an OE infected Monarch that managed to eclose (another new word for me. I made up my own pronunciation for that one!) Three hours later and she has not flown away. Guess she's too badly infected. Her chrysalis turned the pea soup green and had the black spots on the inside, too.

Maybe I should stick with buckeyes and black swallowtails. They seem be much more disease resistant.

I just finally weeded through some of this thread, but not all of it. Lots of speculations I could jump into with yea's, nay's and maybe's IMO, but I normally don't respond to any threads about OE for a specific reason. But since I have seen it mentioned enough lately on the forum I did post a new thread this morning though rather than polute those that are ongoing. That way any flak will stay on that thread. IOW my opinions are often not taken well here when they go against the normal "grain" here. ;)