Diapause in Monarchs
Liz Goehring & Karen Oberhauser
University Scientists
University of Minnesota
St. Paul, MN
Overview of Diapause Research | Reproduction Home
Overview
Monarch butterflies that migrate to Mexico each fall are in a state called reproductive diapause. When they emerge from the pupa,
they look like summer butterflies, but will not develop mature ovaries or testes
for several months. In some ways, they are arrested in a juvenile state, and most
of them remain this way until the following spring when they become sexually mature.
Liz Goehring studied many aspects of monarch diapause during her master’s
thesis work at the University of Minnesota. Read more about these studies, and learn
about insect diapause in general: