Barbara Kingsolver's Flight Behavior

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In the novel Flight Behavior, by Barbara Kingsolver, we come across many topics we can derive from the book. As we read the novel one of the main topics we came across was Monarch Butterflies. We learned numerous things about these Butterflies throughout our reading. One of the numerous things was how to tell the difference between male Butterflies to female ones. In our paper, we will be giving great detail on the difference between the male and female butterflies based on the research that we have done.
In her novel, Kingsolver mentions the characteristics of the male Monarch butterfly. Their characteristics are that a black dot on their wings can distinguish them as males. They also have darker colored wings than the females. “The males’ …show more content…

For example, one can begin to determine the sex of the monarch butterfly in the larvae stage, but can only be done by dissection. The male will have a testis in the sixth abdominal segment, dorsal to the gut. The next stage of life is the Pupae. To determine the sex in this stage you need to have great vision or a microscope. The male butterfly has a cremaster which is a structure from which the pupa hangs, has a series of rings called abdominal sternites. Within the first ring, there are several paired black dots next to the cremaster. To determine that it is a female, the rings adjacent to the ninth sternite will have a line dissecting it which is centered between the pair of dots. Now we enter the adult stage of the Monarch butterfly. The male Monarch butterfly is somewhat larger than the female monarch butterfly. To designate if it is a male it will have a black spot on each of its hind wing. This is the most noticeable way to tell it is a male. In the female Monarch butterflies, they do not have spots on their hind wings they have thicker wing veins which make them darker in color than the male butterflies. If you happen to come across Monarch butterflies with their wings closed we are still able to determine the sex. The males’ dark spot should be able to be seen as it will bleed through the outside

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