La monarca (o Danaus plexippus) è una farfalla diffusa in tutto il mondo, ma è più comune in Nord America e in Sud America. Ha un'apertura alare tra gli 8,9 e i 10,2 centimetri e pesa circa 0,5 grammi. Le ali sono arancioni-rosse con evidenti venature nere e larghi bordi neri con puntini bianchi. Le zampe e le antenne sono nere, mentre il corpo è nero con puntini bianchi. I bruchi della monarca hanno un corpo carnoso con strisce gialle, nere e bianche.

Latin Name
Danaus plexippus
Slug
monarch
Site
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Conservation Status
Animal Category
Animal Facts
Some populations of monarch butterflies are migratory and will migrate over 4800km from Canada and the Northern USA to Mexico. It may take 4 generations of butterflies to complete this round trip.
During the migration of the monarch butterfly, thousands of butterflies will cluster together to create the ideal temperature for themselves.
When male monarch butterflies attempt to court and mate with females, 30% of the time they will accidentally grab a male and attempt to mate with him.
Monarch butterfly caterpillars feed on poisonous milkweed which makes them toxic to predators. The orange/red colour of the adults is thought to signal danger for this reason.
During the caterpillar stage, a monarch caterpillar will eat 200 times its bodyweight in milkweed.