Monarch

Danaus plexippus

SIZE AND DESCRIPTION

Forewing 50mm. Unmistakable world-famous migrant indigenous to North America. Predominantly orange and black in colour, with male and female being similar. Male has a small black pouch of scent scales on a vein of the hindwing. Larva is strikingly coloured in yellow and black, usually a deterrent to predators. Also called Milkweed.

HABITAT AND DISTRIBUTION

Hot dry places. In Europe established only in parts of the Canary Islands, southern Spain and Madeira. Adults migrate, rarely coming to British shores.

FOOD AND HABITS

Larvae feed on milkweeds. All stages in its life cycle are poisonous due to toxins in the larval foodplant, to which larvae are impervious but which are unpalatable to most birds.