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Monarch butterfly caterpillar D. p. plexippus Piedra Herrada, Mexico. The monarch butterfly or simply monarch (Danaus plexippus) is a milkweed butterfly (subfamily Danainae) in the family Nymphalidae. [6] Other common names, depending on region, include milkweed, common tiger, wanderer, and black-veined brown. [7]
Common names include sand vine, honeyvine, honeyvine milkweed, bluevine milkweed, climbing milkweed, and smooth swallow-wort. [2] The root system of C. laeve can cause it to be very difficult to eradicate, especially in agricultural fields. [3] It is a larval food of monarch butterflies [4] and milkweed tussock moth larvae. [5]
Four species are found in North America: the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus), the queen (Danaus gilippus), the tropical milkweed butterfly (Lycorea cleobaea), and the soldier butterfly (or "tropic queen", Danaus eresimus). Of these, the monarch is by far the most famous, being one of the most recognizable butterflies in the Americas.
A monarch butterfly feeding on milkweed. (Shutterstock) The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is pushing for added protections for the monarch butterfly after seeing a population decline of about 80%.
This genus was formerly split into the subgenera Danaus, Salatura, and Anosia, but this arrangement has been abolished.While the first (the 2–3 monarch butterflies) and Salatura (species ismare, genutia, affinis, and melanippus) do indeed seem to be clades, the relationship of these to the other species, especially the puzzling D. dorippus, is not clear.
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They are also called brush-footed butterflies or four-footed butterflies, because they are known to stand on only four legs while the other two are curled up; in some species, these forelegs have a brush-like set of hairs, which gives this family its other common name.
Monarch butterflies regularly stop by parts of South Carolina during their migration across the country. Here’s what residents can do to help them prosper. Monarch butterflies are now listed as ...