Thursday, June 3, 2010

Viceroy


A Viceroy butterfly taken today at Branched Oak Lake.

The Viceroy looks very much like a Monarch. There are several differences, but the two most immediately obvious are size and a a black postmedian band across the hindwing. The wingspan of a Viceroy is 2 5/8 to 3 inches, and a Monarch is 3 1/2 to 4 inches. To translate what a black postmedian band is, it's a black stripe on the lower wing. This black stripe can be faint or lacking.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

He's beautiful! I do see similarities with the monarch. Glad you explained the postmedian band, because I was scratching my head before, lol.