Viceroy
Limenitis archippus
Photo by Terry Murphy from Pixabay
Summary
Like its doppelganger, the monarch, the viceroy is a large orange and black butterfly with white spots. What’s the ‘tell’? Viceroys have a thick black line crossing the black hindwing veins, and only a single row of white spots in the wing margins. The caterpillars play a similar game, resembling bird droppings, like the larvae of the red-spotted purple. These caterpillars feed at night on willow, poplar and wild cherry leaves. Adults visit flowers as well as enjoying other sweet treats such as rotting fruit, tree sap and honeydew. Once considered the classic example of a Batesian mimic (an edible species resembling an inedible one to avoid predation) the viceroy is now recognized as being unpalatable itself.
More Details
FAMILY
Nymphalidae (Brush-footed)
IDENTIFICATION
Average wingspan 2-3.2 inches. Similar to monarch but smaller. Orange and black. Hindwing with black post-median line.
HABITAT
Edge of moist woods or meadows with streams or ponds.
LIFE CYCLE
Eggs laid individually, often at tip of host plant leaf; larvae are nocturnal feeders. Overwinters as partially grown larva; third instar larva constructs a hibernaculum of host leaves and silk.
HOST PLANTS
Willows (Salix) and Poplars (Populus)
Ecosystem Connections
Because of their warning coloration, most viceroys are avoided by predators. A young bird, for example, only needs to eat one viceroy or monarch before learning to avoid both of them! The warning coloration benefits both butterfly species as well as their “educated” predators.