I will always try to get a photograph whenever I see a Monarch Butterfly, as I noted in a recent post, so I immediately set out after this orange and black butterfly when I spotted it on Monday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. When the butterfly landed and I got a closer look, I discovered that it was a Viceroy butterfly (Limenitis archippus), a species considered to be a mimic of the Monarch. The two species share similar color schemes, but the Viceroy is smaller and has a black line across its hind wings that in not present on Monarch wings.
I had learned long ago that Viceroys used a type of defensive behavior, known as Batesian mimicry, in which a palatable species, the Viceroy, closely resembles unpalatable or toxic species, like the Monarch, to avoid predation. However, some research suggests that the Viceroy is also unpalatable, which would make the Viceroys and Monarchs co-mimics of each other, a phenomenon known as Müllerian mimicry, in which two or more noxious species develop similar appearances as a shared protective device.
In the abstract of his article entitled “Comparative unpalatability of mimetic viceroy butterflies (Limenitis archippus) from four south-eastern United States populations” David Ritland stated, “Viceroy butterflies (Limenitis archippus), long considered palatable mimics of distasteful danaine butterflies, have been shown in studies involving laboratory-reared specimens to be moderately unpalatable to avian predators. This implies that some viceroys are Müllerian co-mimics, rather than defenseless Batesian mimics, of danaines.” (Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) are part of the Daniadae sub-family (“danaine”) that Ritland mentioned.) Ritland tested his hypothesis with wild-caught butterflies and red-winged blackbirds and the results supported his hypothesis that Viceroys are unpalatable.
I have no idea what scientists have concluded about the mimicry question regarding the Viceroy butterfly, but it is fascinating to see the interrelatedness of different species that share this planet. We are all in this together.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
The stance looks so delicate.
I think, Steve, that the butterfly did not hunker down, because he was not gathering nectar, but was merely perching on the leaf momentarily or maybe it’s simply a fastidious butterfly, the kind that drinks its tea with its pinky in the air. 🙂
Thanks for the visit good to see your visitors too Mike
Nice summary on the Viceroy and wonderful photograph, Mike.
The more we learn about our natural world, the more fascinating our discoveries and the more we realize how much we don’t know.
Thanks, Wally. I totally agree with your last sentence and hesitate to call myself an expert in anything–there is always more to learn.
And to think that all that took millions of years to happen… kind of humbling.
Nice capture, Mike!
Thanks, Eliza. Nature is amazing, awesome, and, as you noted, humbling.
The similarity is certainly striking, and it’s a sure bet that many a Viceroy has been mis-identified as a Monarch, and probably vice-versa. It’s good to be reminded about the Viceroy’s extra black stripe.
It’s interesting that you raise misidentification, Gary, because just this week I came across a butterfly in one of my old posts that I had misidentified. I think that I was falsely confident or perhaps simply ignorant of the complexities of identification when I was just starting out. Now I am a bit more cautious and am willing to do a bit more research or ask for help in identifying a subject.
Neato!
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Definitely a pretty little butterfly.
Palatable: I wonder to who, or what, or who and/or how it is determined which is palatable? “Lets have a taste test. OK, …we’ll sip a little wine first, than how about a couple of butterflies?” M 🙂
The scientists devised some testing strategies and based their analysis on the reactions of red-winged blackbirds to being presented with the butterflies. I can just imagine the blackbirds saying, “I can detect hints of blackberries, but there is a bitter aftertaste.” How do they know if the birds don’t like the butterflies? Perhaps they look for signals, like the toddler who turns up his nose at the food and insists that he must have chicken nuggets or even worse, the one who spits out the food after the first bite. This would not be the craziest scientific experiment conducted–there are far too many examples from which to choose. 🙂
🙂🙂🙂
Your photographs are breathtaking! The insects look almost but not quite familiar. Even between France and UK the species are either completely different or have geographical variations.
Thanks, Jane. I used to travel to Europe for work several time a year and had the opportunity to search for dragonflies in Vienna, Austria and in Brussels, Belgium. What I discovered was that the species that I encountered overseas in many cases were of the same families as the ones at home, but were different species–sort of like cousins. The same seemed to be true of some of the birds (in the wintertime I switch from photographing insects to photographing birds). However it can be a little confusing, because some of the birds like the robin are completely different species–the European Robin is totally different from the American Robin.
Yes, the American robin is closer to our blackbird and the American blackbird is something else again, not a thrush anyway. I imagine the early settlers named the birds out of nostalgia rather than with any scientific knowledge or even observation!
I have a fun time with species names, going so far as to make up my own names for species if I don’t like the “official” name or feel that it is insufficiently descriptive. “After all, what’s in a name?” asked a famous poet. 🙂
Given the daft names that some scientists have come up with, why not? Like we have wagtails called Red tails, and a sub species called Black red tails which always strikes me as feeble.
I don’t know which I like more: the beautiful photograph or the fascinating commentary.
Thanks, Michael. I kind of went down a rabbit hole when I started looking into mimicry. I tend to write the same way that I think and both show that I can get a little distracted sometimes and go off on crazy tangents. 🙂
Well, it’s fascinating anyway.
Mimicry, doppelganger, taste testing always an adventure reading your blog! Besides the lovely photography 😉
Thanks. My mind goes off on tangents sometimes and I am always will to take my readers along with me on those adventures. 🙂