Monarch Butterfly Danaus plexippus
The beautiful Monarch butterfly from North America (also N. Atlantic and S. Pacific rim) is like an orange stained-glass window.
Monarch butterflies flock together to migrate from northern USA/southern Canada to Mexico/Central America in the autumn and return north in the spring,
although, since the butterfly lives for 6 weeks, it is later generations that return north.
The female Monarch is a little darker with thicker, darker black veins.
The male Monarch is a little brighter orange and has two black scent marks on the hind wing.
Male Monarch butterflies
Female Monarch butterflies
Side view of the stained-glass window
On its favourite nectar and larval host, the Milkweed plant
Links:
Egg
Caterpillar
Pupating
Pupa/Chrysalis
Pupa/Chrysalis
Emergence
more Monarchs