urbpan: (dandelion)
urbpan ([personal profile] urbpan) wrote2006-07-18 05:16 pm

365 Urban Species. #199: Monarch


Photo by [livejournal.com profile] urbpan. Location: Olmsted Park, Boston.

Urban species #199: Monarch Danaus plexippus

Of the dozen or so species of migratory butterflies in North America, the monarch is certainly the most well-known and popular. Seven states claim it as the official State Insect, second only to the introduced European honeybee (12 states). It is an uncommonly beautiful insect, even by mainstream tastes. Its bright orange and black colors reminded the colonists of royalty, though they exist to remind birds that they taste bad. Several species of butterfly have bold colors to warn predators away, and some more palatable butterflies have the same bold colors in imitation of the bad tasting ones. Toxic compounds acquired from their exclusive diet of milkweed, as larvae, give both monarch caterpillars and adults their protective taste. There are many species of milkweeds available to them, including many weedy urban species, and many planted by gardeners who wish to attract butterflies. There exists at least one milkweed, black swallow-wort, that monarchs will lay eggs on, but that the caterpillars are unable to feed on. Fortunately, the adult lays a single egg on each individual plant so there are many chances for the correct plant to be chosen. Currently, the greatest threat to monarchs is the loss of trees in their wintering grounds in California, the American south, and Mexico.


Location: Drumlin Farm.

[identity profile] droserary.livejournal.com 2006-07-19 01:03 am (UTC)(link)
Don't the viceroy's also "mimic" another species of butterfly where the monarch isn't found?

And apparently, my biology textbooks in school simplified things to beyond a level of truth:

New research indicates, however, that the viceroy has successfully deceived scientists, not birds. Entomologists have long labored under the assumption that the viceroy's orange warning colors were just a bluff. Now, two zoologists have demonstrated that to discerning birds, the viceroy can taste just as foul as the noxious monarch.
From this article.

[identity profile] artemii.livejournal.com 2006-07-19 10:37 am (UTC)(link)
Don't the viceroy's also "mimic" another species of butterfly where the monarch isn't found?

i had thought it did, but i've never lived in an area where it does so i couldn't remember for sure.

cool article - thank you! i wonder if in areas where milkweed tends to be less toxic, and there are both viceroys and monarchs, the viceroy is helping the monarch survive rather than the reverse.

[identity profile] droserary.livejournal.com 2006-07-19 03:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, answered my own question! Apparently, in the south/southwest, the viceroy tends to mimic the Queen butterfly (Danaus gilippus).

i wonder if in areas where milkweed tends to be less toxic, and there are both viceroys and monarchs, the viceroy is helping the monarch survive rather than the reverse.
Sounds like an excellent research thesis!