This Parasite is Cramping The Monarch Butterfly’s Style | Deep Look

Monarchs are locked in a battle with Ophryocystis elektroscirrha (OE), a parasite that can trap a butterfly in its own chrysalis and deform its beautiful wings. Turns out there is a wrong way, and a *right way,* for you to help these butterflies in your backyard.

DEEP LOOK is a ultra-HD (4K) short video series created by KQED San Francisco and presented by PBS Digital Studios. Explore big scientific mysteries by going incredibly small.

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Monarch butterflies are one of the most recognizable animals in the world, but these beloved insects face have lost much of their historic milkweed habitat to agriculture and development. As a result, monarchs are more concentrated on the milkweed plants they have left.

Monarch caterpillars are completely reliant on milkweed for food and many people plant milkweed in their yards to help them. But not all milkweed is the same.

Tropical milkweed, with its pretty orange and red flowers, doesn’t die back in the fall and that means that the protozoan parasite Ophryocystis elektroscirrha (OE) has more time to build up on its leaves.

Monarch caterpillars inadvertently ingest the spores, which release the microscopic parasites into the caterpillar’s flesh. When a heavily infected monarch goes through metamorphosis, the butterfly will have lesions on its abdomen, making it stick to the inside of its chrysalis.

“It gets stuck and you really see the butterfly struggle at that point which is a sad sight,” says Jacobus de Roode, a researcher at Emory University in Atlanta who studies the relationship between monarchs and OE.

“Normally the butterfly comes out very smoothly, it pops out and starts pumping up those wings. But when they get stuck you can see them for minutes or even hours struggling and they just can’t get out. It’s kind of traumatic.”

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--- How do monarch butterflies help humans?
Monarch butterflies are important pollinators that are hugely beneficial to the ecosystems in which they are found.

--- Where do monarch butterflies migrate each year?
In the fall, monarch butterflies travel to their overwintering locations. The majority of monarchs live east of the Rock Mountains and they travel to central Mexico. The monarchs that spend their summers west of the Rockies travel to the central California coast. There is some overlap between the populations of monarchs.

--- How do monarch butterflies protect themselves?
Monarch caterpillars feed on milkweed plants, which contain toxic substances called cardiac glycosides that accumulate in the caterpillar’s flesh and stay with it even after it metamorphoses into a butterfly. Both monarch caterpillars and butterflies have vibrant warning colors that tell predators that they don’t taste good.

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Glasswing Butterflies Want To Make Something Perfectly Clear | Deep Look

The Pipevine Caterpillar Thrives in a Toxic Love Triangle | Deep Look

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[teainnit]

Fun fact: when butterflies are going through metamorphosis their entier body turns into a goo with it's brian floating in it, and then it reasambles it self into a butterfly shape. Pretty wild if you ask me.

[Sentarry]

I saw at least 1 monarch this past September and I was surprised to see one here in Southern California while on my evening walk.
I remember growing up in the late 90s to 00's and seeing them around quite often in my elementary school. It's quite sad to see why they've become less common in my area maybe for this reason.
I'll definitely get some native milkweed and put some in my backyard ☺️
I love seeing Monarch Butterflies a plenty.

[featherboi]

This video could not have come out at a better time.
We had planted tropical milkweed in our front yard and it attracted many monarchs early in August and later in September, we noticed several caterpillars on the plants which was a sight to see! Felt like a monarch hotel! Even though about 10 or 15 caterpillars were on the plants, only 5 were able to make a chrysalis, and out of those, 4 hatched and seemed okay! No deformations or struggling to get out. But the last one still hasnt hatched and its darkened quite a bit now. So I hope that one isnt infected with OE or just got hit by a wasp. Here's to hoping for the best!

[thechickenwizard]

Thank you so much for making this! I only learned about OE a few months ago, but since then I've cut down my tropical milkweed bushes and replaced them with native varieties, and am currently working on planting more native plants in my garden. Its so important for people to know the important of native plants, and how planting invasive/non natives can have significant impacts on wildlife.

[TragoudistrosMPH]

It's distressing just how many ripple effects invasive species cause...
Especially when well meaning people accidentally cause the problem.
The information is extra important.

[Velkhana_The_Myth]

It's quite sad how these beautiful butterflies are unable to show their colours due to that protozoan. It is multiplying too much! Hopefully we can decrease the amount of them so it wouldn't harm the butterflies anymore! They aren't even able to to fly! And here I thought that being poisonous would deter anything from harming them :(. besides, they are threatened! So glad people are making efforts to help them!
Edit: guys stop harassing me i didn't know. Let me change it.

[Cytrillex]

The footage in this episode is absolutely incredible! The detail on the egg that gets eaten by the newborn caterpillar is so so cool. You folks behind Deep Look clearly put a ton of time into getting these macro shots and I'm just amazed that it's freely available on the internet.

[reverb]

I recently did a study on OE and found spores in local monarchs in my area. Since then I’ve published a paper of my findings and have been spreading the word. It was so cool yet horrifying seeing OE spores underneath the microscope- I really love that you guys are spreading the word and telling others about how to test them! I know testing them has helped me learn so much more about them and others 🦋

[BlueyChafalitaPosting]

It's always so fascinating when a new Deep Look vid gets upload, monarch butterflies are amazing, i love watching them here in Mexico, hopefully something is done to stop that infection

[YouTubeUzername]

I do this type of work professionally so I design monarch habitats. I only place native milkweed in their habitats but I had no idea that tropical milkweed was causing them to not migrate. Good information!

[nicolassateler]

Who would guess that "helping" the local environment by using non native species would be a doble backlash...

[frogglen]

Ah deep look. My favorite channel to watch for disturbing aspects of nature

[comanderspartan]

This is really sad to see honestly... Great video!

[williamcozart]

One good thing is more and more people know about the relationship between the monarchs and milkweed and people are leaving milkweed patches for the butterflies rather than mowing it down, and I have seen more (wild)milkweed around here in Michigan this year than I have seen in quite a few years.

[alexvasquez]

So many reasons to only plant native species. We don't always realize the cascade of effects that can happen until decades later.

[daniadoo]

I discovered OE this summer when I found a butterfly with a crumpled wing. It could not fly so I let it sit on my arm for a while. The poor thing never wanted to leave my side and it lived for about a week and a half in my garden. I was so sad about my new butterfly friend so i researched OE and decided to help out by planting tons of native milkweed and raising my own monarchs. I found 3 OE infested butterflies with crumpled wings this year, I hope we can find a way to eliminate the parasite soon.

[jakimiyamizu]

Thankyou as always deeplook for this video!!! Love it and Keep it up!!!

[WolfGuy]

As a guy who enjoy watching Monarch butterfly going thru life stages, this sadden me. I have never ever knew that monarch butterflies would come down with this horrible parasite that would harm them or cripple them.

I'll be sure to find some native milkweeds and plant them in the backyard once they're back in season :)

[aprilmeowmeow]

i would love a full deep look documentary one day. these videos are written and narrated very well :)

[thatweirdartist]

I was on a walk a few days ago with my grandma and saw a milkweed with some seed pods so we grabbed one to plant it in our butterfly garden so I’m hoping it will work. If you have any tips on growing milkweed let me know!