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| Monarch |
As spring unfolds in Central Texas, butterflies begin to appear ever present in our gardens and landscapes. A subfamily of the Brushfoot butterflies, milkweed butterflies are a group of butterflies whose larva feed only on various milkweed species, and these plants provide the adults with certain chemicals that make them naturally distasteful to most predators. This subfamily is composed of ‘the royals’, better known as the Monarch (Danaus plexippus), Queen (Danaus gilippus), and Soldier (Danaus eresimus).
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| Monarch ventral, or underside. |
The well-known Monarch is probably the most famous butterfly in North America, but it often confused with the Queen and Soldier. Monarchs have rich cinnamon-orange wings with distinctive bold black veins and white dots on the black wing borders and on the black body, and look remarkably similar on the underside. Its larva are striped with yellow, black, and white, and they have two sets of black tentacles rising from their bodies.
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| Queens mating, showing their undersides |
While the underside of the Queen butterfly can look a lot like a Monarch, it is its upperside that allows for a definitive identification. Queens can appear almost solid orange compared to stained glass pattern of the Monarch, having rich dark orange wings that lack the black veining and white spots toward the dark wing tips and along their black edges. While adult Queens seek out ageratum, eupatorium, and heliotrope as preferred nectar flowers, adult Monarchs are much broader generalists in terms of their use of many types of nectar plants.
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| Queen dorsal or upperside, showing white spots along forewing |
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| Soldier dorsal or upperside, showing absence of white spots along forewing and more obvious wing veining |
Soldiers typically occur where Queens are common and are often overlooked due to their very similar appearance. They can be properly identified by fewer white spots and more obvious dark wing veining on the forewings than on the Queen, but less defined veining than on the Monarch. Another clue is that Soldiers generally fly in our area in late summer and fall. Both Soldier and Queen larva are Monarch look-alikes, sporting yellow, black, and white stripes, but with three sets of black tentacles instead of two.
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| Viceroy dorsal or upperside, showing black band across middle of the hindwing |
In an action intended to deceive, the Viceroy (Limenitis archippus) is a milkweed butterfly mimic, using its similar patterning and color to trick predators into thinking it is just as distasteful. Viceroys are smaller than Monarchs or Queens and usually have a black band across the middle of each hindwing. This band can be faint or missing, but this butterfly can also be identified by its flying style of quick flaps and flat-winged glides, rather than flying strongly with wings in a shallow V-shape like the Monarch and Queen. One more way that you can uncover this butterfly’s royal ruse is by knowing that its host plant is willow and not milkweed, and its larva resemble a horned bird-dropping.
Take a closer look the next time you see an orange butterfly on the wing. It might just be a Monarch heading north, or a Queen or Soldier nectaring on mistflower, or maybe even a Viceroy trying to pull off a royal ruse!
