Healing Butterflies

Butterflies Cure Themselves with Plants : Discovery News: "Monarch butterflies can cure themselves and their offspring of disease by using medicinal plants, according to a new paper in the journal Ecology Letters.

The disease is caused by a protozoan parasite called Ophryocystis elektroscirrha. The parasite invades the gut of the caterpillars and then persists when the caterpillars become adult monarchs.

Project leader Jaap de Roode in eScience Commons today said, “We have shown that some species of milkweed, the larva’s food plants, can reduce parasite infection in the monarchs. And we have also found that infected female butterflies prefer to lay their eggs on plants that will make their offspring less sick, suggesting that monarchs have evolved the ability to medicate their offspring.”"