Monarch Butterflies Use Medicinal Plants to Treat Offspring for Disease

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/10/101011090010.htm

ScienceDaily (Oct. 11, 2010) — Monarch butterflies appear to use medicinal plants to treat their offspring for disease, research by biologists at Emory University shows. Their findings were published online Oct. 6 in the journal Ecology Letters.

"We have shown that some species of milkweed, the larva's food plants, can reduce parasite infection in the monarchs," says Jaap de Roode, the evolutionary biologist who led the study. "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."

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