Butterfly Love

Queen butterflies the Queen Butterfly (Danaus gilippus) is a North and South American butterfly in the family Nymphalidae (the brush-foots) with a... more

by Ruth Jolly

Title

Butterfly Love

Artist

Ruth Jolly

Medium

Photograph - Photography

Description

Queen butterflies the Queen Butterfly (Danaus gilippus) is a North and South American butterfly in the family Nymphalidae (the brush-foots) with a wingspan of 70-88 mm (2.8-3.5 in). It is orange or brown with black wing borders and small white forewing spots on its dorsal wing surface and reddish ventral wing surface fairly similar to the dorsal surface. The ventral hindwings have black veins and small white spots on a black border. The male has a black andrological scent patch on its dorsal hindwings. Females lay small white eggs singly on plants in the milkweed subfamily (Asclepiadoideae), including Mexican Milkweed, Swamp Milkweed, Desert Milkweed, and Sandhill Milkweed. The egg hatches into a black caterpillar with transverse white stripes and yellow spots, and three pairs of long, black filaments. The caterpillar feeds on the milkweed and sequesters chemicals that make it distasteful to some predators. It then goes through six instars, after which the larva finds a suitable spot to pupate. The adult emerges 7 to 10 days afterward. D. gilippus has multiple generations a year. This pair is mating in Tucson, Arizona at the Tucson Botanical Garden. Fine Art America watermark will not appear on purchased arwork.

Uploaded

May 17th, 2013