Today's delicate species is the state insect of Alabama, Idaho, Illinois, Minnesota, Texas, and the state butterfly of Vermont and West Virginia. It's the Monarch Butterfly. The monarch is a type of milkweed butterfly. The queen and soldier butterflies are also in this group.
Female
The wingspan of the monarch ranges from 3½–4 inches. The upper side of the monarch butterfly's wings is tawny-orange, the veins and margins are black, and in the margins are two series of small white spots. The fore wings also have a few orange spots near the tip. The underside is similar but the tip of the fore wing and hind wing are yellow-brown instead of tawny-orange and the white spots are larger. Viceroy butterflies have evolved to look like a monarch (because monarch's are poisonous) so predators will stay away. Males are slightly larger and not as bright as the females.
Male
Monarch butterflies can be found anywhere in North America between southern Canada and South America. They can also be found Bermuda, Hawaii, the Solomons, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Australia, New Guinea, Ceylon, India, the Azores, and the Canary Islands. A monarch can be found in a wide range of habitats such as fields, meadows, prairie remnants, urban and suburban parks, gardens, and roadsides. It overwinters in conifer groves.
This well-favored butterfly is threatened by loss of habitat. If you would like to donate and save a monarch butterfly, you can visit http://www.worldwildlife.org/ogc/species_SKU.cfm?gid=22.
Monarch Butterfly Fun Facts
- Scientific Name: Danaus plexippus
- Threat Level: Near Threatened
- Length: 5 cm. (caterpiller); 3½–4 in. (monarch butterfly wingspan)
- Lifespan: 7-8 months
- Typical Diet: nectar
- Monarch caterpillars are in a chrysalis for 9 to 15 days
- After emerging from the chrysalis, a monarch butterfly must stretch it's wings many times before it can fly
- If any animal eats a monarch butterfly, they will become sick enough to never eat one ever again
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