Wanted: Monarch Butterfly Sightings
Can You Tell a Viceroy from a Monarch Butterfly?
Q. What are the best fields mark to distinguish between a monarch and a viceroy?
A. "A viceroy has a black line on its wing. A monarch doesn't," said Sam from Rhode Island. Look at the black vein he describes. Compare the hindwing of a monarch and viceroy.
Q. How do they viceroys and monarchs compare in size?
A. Comparing wingspans:
- Viceroy: 2 1/2 - 3 3/8 inches (6.3 - 8.6 cm).
- Monarch: 3 3/8 - 4 7/8 inches (8.6 - 12.4 cm).
Q. Where do viceroy butterflies spend the winter?
A. Viceroys do not migrate. They spend the winter rolled up in a leaf of their host plant (willow or poplar). The larvae look like bird droppings--so who would bother them?!
Q. At what stage of their life cycle do they overwinter--as an egg, larva or adult?
A. Viceroys overwinter as 1st or 2nd instar larvae.
Q. When are viceroys FIRST seen in the spring where you live?
A. The answer to this question obviously depends where you live! However, you won't see an adult viceroy until:
- Willow/poplar leaves have emerged and are available as food for the larvae.
- The larvae develop through the remaining instars (approx. 5 days) and the chrysalis stage (at least 10 days).
In Ontario and Minnesota, for example, entomologists say adult viceroys don't usually appear until June. (In contrast, the first monarchs usually arrive by late May.) Timing of viceroy development will depend on spring temperatures because temperatures control how early leaf-out occurs, how quickly the leaves grow, how quickly the caterpillars grow and the chysalis develops.
Also, adds Dr. Karen Oberhauser, "Viceroys are not nearly as common as monarchs." So perhaps we need not be too concerned about mistaken monarch identities.
Sources:
- Information provided by Dr. Bob Pyle, Dr. Karen Oberhauser and the Butterflies and Moths of North America website.
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