Kallie is hard at work at the MRS testing for OE: Ophryocystis elektroscirrha, a single celled parasite that infects monarchs. We test every monarch in the station. Kallie tests adult monarchs (it’s not possible to test caterpillars for the disease); she’s looking for microscopic spores on the abdomen of the butterfly. Any monarchs found with OE are destroyed and appropriately disposed of to reduce contamination.
Kallie testing for OE.