Viceroy (butterfly)

Limenitis archippus

Limenitis archippus is a North American butterfly of the subfamily Limenitidinae ( kingfishers ) within the family of Nymphalidae ( Nymphalidae ) and is referred to in English as Viceroy Butterfly ( Viceroy ). The moth is mimicry with the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus ) and other species and subspecies of the genus Danaus.

• 4.1 Development
• 4.2 Dining Falter
• 4.3 food of the caterpillars
• 4.4 Flight time

• 5.1 Notes and references

Features

Imago

The nominate Limenitis archippus archippus has an orange base color with black veins. This is an unusual look for the genus, whose species usually have black upper wing with white ribbons. He is like the Monarch Butterfly in size and color very much, but can be distinguished from this by means of an extra black stripe in the Postdiskalregion on the hind wings. The subspecies Limenitis archippus floridensis has a brownish color instead of orange, and the subspecies L. archippus obsoleta is reddish brown, with her ​​on the hind wings top the dark line is almost gone. The moth is slightly smaller than its mimicry models.

Caterpillar

The caterpillars of the Nominatart L. archippus archippus are mostly brown yellow, rarely olive green, with a tan chest. The head is reddish brown and bears two small black spined horns, each with a smaller horn behind it. The thickened thorax bears two highly branched black horns that are shorter than in other species of the genus. In the middle of the abdomen there is a saddle-shaped bulge with jagged edges, the pink - white or cream-colored. Laterally form cream-colored spots a line. On the abdomen there are five pairs of small spines.

The caterpillars of the subspecies L. a obsoleta are almost identical, in the back they are yellow - brown to brown and the lateral spots are whitish - gray. The caterpillars of the subspecies L. a floridensis are olive green and have a paler red head. The horns on the red-brown thorax are longer and the saddle-shaped bulge may also be reddish brown.

Doll

The unusually shaped doll reminiscent of a dolphin without fins. The saddle-shaped bulge of the caterpillar is also obtained in the doll. The nominate form with black-green, tan, pink and gray speckled on the abdomen and is at its brightest.

In the subspecies obsolete the doll in the middle of the abdomen is brownish and whitish and provides a bird droppings - mimesis dar.

In the subspecies floridensis the doll is brown and wears silver spots on the head and wings. The abdomen is dark brown and yellowish at the end with green speckles.

Egg

The eggs are pale green or pale yellow and later grayish.

Mimicry

The mimicry with the poisonous moths of the genus Danaus has long been known and has long been considered Batesian mimicry, mimicking toxic or fortified animals in the non-toxic or dangerous animals. Recent studies have shown that Limenitis archippus is also unpalatable, as well as other species of the genus. Therefore, the mimicry is now classified as a signal normalization ( Mullerian mimicry ). The orange subspecies L. archippus archippus developed in northern distribution area a signal normalization with the Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus). In areas where the monarch is rare in the southwest and southeast of the United States, it mimics red-brown to brown subspecies of Danaus gilippus. From the eastern Texas to Florida, the red-brown subspecies L. archippus floridensis D. gilippus berenice mimics and from western Texas to Arizona mimics the brown subspecies L. archippus obsoleta D. gillipus strigosus after.

Occurrence

The species is distributed in North America by the U.S. east coast to the Northwest Territories of Canada in the northwest, along the eastern edge of the Cascade Range and the Sierra Nevada south to southern Mexico. The populated habitats include the subtropics in the south of the area of ​​distribution to the deciduous hardwood forests in the eastern United States.

Way of life

The males often sit in one to two meters in height in the vegetation. They fly over the whole day again and again in search of females through their territory. The females lay eggs singly on the upper surface of young shoots of the caterpillar food plants.

Development

In the first two stages, the caterpillars eat the leaf tip to the middle vein, on which they rest. Near its feeding point they spin a small ball of leaf and faeces together. This jiggling in the wind ball is likely to distract enemies of the caterpillar.

In the third stage, the caterpillar hibernates and to build up a Hibernaculum of rolled up sheets: The caterpillar eats the leaf tip and leaves again the midvein are, the sheet is woven into a tube with silk and bound on the petiole of a branch. The caterpillar is crawling forward into the tube with the head and hibernates. This diapause is triggered by the shortened day length in late summer / autumn.

Food of moths

The moths suck flowers, on honeydew from aphids, rotting wood, fungi, mud, plant juices and excrement.

Food of the caterpillars

The caterpillars feed on a variety of plants from the families of the willow family ( Salicaceae ), birch family ( Betulaceae ) and Rose family ( Rosaceae ).

Proven food plants are:

• Salicaceae: Salix exigua, S. sericea, American Black willow ( S. nigra), S. interior, S. cordata, S. discolor, S. caroliniana, Populus gileadensis, P. fremontii, P. heterophylla, Western balsam poplar (Populus trichocarpa ), P. grandidentata, P. tremuloides, White poplar (Populus alba ), P. deltoides, balsam poplar (Populus balsamifera ), P. nigra var italica and P.nigra
• Betulaceae: paper birch (Betula papyrifera );
• Rosaceae: plum (Prunus domestica), black cherry (Prunus serotina ), Mains pumila, cultural pear (Pyrus communis), hawthorn (Crataegus ), rock lights ( Amelanchier ), Chrysobalanus oblongifolius

Flight time

In the south of the range of four or more generations develop each year. In the northern United States and in Ontario, two generation fly in June and August, and in the far north flies a brood from June to July.

Swell

Scott, James A.: The butterflies of North America. Stanford University Press, Stanford, California, 1986, ISBN 0-8047-1205-0, pp. 259f (632 pages).