Can you help me identify? Some pictures on the internet made me think one way, and some the other. Thanks :)
Monarch or Viceroy?
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Nice photos, jlp.
Don't you think it's a Viceroy?
I always have trouble telling them apart in the field, too.
I think it is. I have a TON of Milkweed planted, so it probably is a Viceroy :P (being sarcastic)
Definitely a Viceroy (Limenitis archippus). Notice the black line on the hindwing. Monarchs don't have that.
Dale Clark
Dallas County Lepidopterists' Society
www.dallasbutterflies.com
Thanks :)
jlp, what do you have for the Viceroys to eat?
I would like to have them come to my yard, but they don't seem to like my two little willows.
I actually think the Viceroys are prettier than the Monarchs. t.
I don't have anything for them, that's why I thought they were Monarch until I got close to this one. He definitely did not mind being photographed.
I don't even know if we have Willow trees close to us.
Hmmmm
What plant was he on? It looks like a rose.
I found willows as their fist choice host plant, cottonwoods/poplars as a alternate. Viceroys are more common in my area than Monarchs. I had heard that they have a darker color depending on whether they are mimicking a Monarch or mimicking a Queen. Your photo does seem to show darker fore-wings than ours have here.
Gazergirl, yes, it is on a rose. It's a red knockout in my neighbor's yard that had not started blooming yet.