Mike Powell

It has been a while since I last saw a Monarch butterfly, but I continue to see lots of similar-looking Viceroy butterflies (Limenitis archippus), like these two little beauties that I photographed in the past few days at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge.

Monarch butterflies migrate to Mexico and parts of southern California each year and may already left our area, while Viceroys do not migrate. I suspect that we will continue to see Viceroys for another month or so before they die off. Viceroy butterflies overwinter here as caterpillars and in spring we will start to see them again.

I just glanced over at a calendar and noted that today is the first day of autumn for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere. I have noted already some changes in the weather, though we are still having more heat and humidity that I would prefer.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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I am still waiting to see my first Monarch butterfly of the year, but was nonetheless excited to spot this similar-looking Viceroy butterfly (Limenitis archippus) recently at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. The butterfly was looking a bit tattered, but its flight abilities seemed unaffected. Every year I am shocked anew at the ability of butterflies to function with significant wing damage.

The Monarchs and Viceroys have the same orange and black coloration, though the Viceroy is a bit smaller in size. The main visual difference between the two species is the black line across the Viceroy’s hind wings that is not present in Monarchs.

This is a modest little shot of this butterfly, but I really like the curve of the vegetation that is serving as a perch and the wonderful shadow that the butterfly is casting onto that vegetation.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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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.

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