Okay, I just noticed I kept saying "wing" above, when it should have been "wings", because they have a pair of wings on each side! Monarch General (Hospital) is now open... That made me smile. After reading these websites, I've gotten very concerned about ensuring the healthiest butterflies possible. I've even fantasized about getting a microscope - hehe! My understanding is that OE is transmittted when the larvae eat the spores on infected leaves, sprinkled there by the female when she oviposits. In the future I am going to try to collects eggs only, and even remove them from the Asclepias leaf. Then I will use sterile equipment and try to collect the freshest and youngest milkweed leaves - and wash them thoroughly to (try to) remove any OE spores. OE is an interesting pathogen. Apparently it co-exists with the Monarch population worldwide. Obviously it has evolved over the millenia along with Danaus plexippus, and that makes me wonder if there are Monarchs that may have developed some resistence? Anyway, I'm still thrilled that this female was okay. Waiting for two more to eclose any minute!!

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

It should have no effect on the speed of your computer. However, if you are leaving your computer on without re-booting it every day or so, the number of processes running in the background may temporarily increase and slow things down somewhat.

Was the account that is missing emails in OE set up prior to the receive date on the emails? I would also check the Blocked Sender's List in OE...click Tools, Message Rules and Blocked Sender's to see if the senders have somehow been blocked. Pam