Viceroy butterfly

A Viceroy butterfly (Limenitis archippus) was spotted during a photowalk at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Prince William County, Virginia USA.

18 SEP 2019 | Occoquan Bay NWR | Viceroy butterfly

Viceroy butterflies look similar to Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus).

It can be distinguished from the Monarch by its smaller size and the post-median black line that runs across the veins on the hindwing. Source Credit: Viceroy (butterfly), Wikipedia.

The Backstory

I noticed the Viceroy butterfly as I was searching intensively for Fine-lined Emerald dragonflies (S. filosa). The juxtaposition of complementary colors was too perfect to pass up, so I stopped to shoot a couple of photos. The photo “feels like” a harbinger of fall, despite the persistence of late-summer in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States of America.

Copyright © 2019 Walter Sanford. All rights reserved.

Viceroy butterflies (mating pair)

The following gallery shows a mating pair of Viceroy butterflies (Limenitis archippus) perching on a willow tree, one of the host plants for Viceroy caterpillars. This pair was spotted during a photowalk through Huntley Meadows Park on 26 September 2013.

Viceroy butterflies look similar to Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus).

It can be distinguished from the Monarch by its smaller size and the post-median black line that runs across the veins on the hindwing. Source Credit: Viceroy (butterfly), Wikipedia.

The following photograph shows a Monarch butterfly feeding on Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) at Huntley Meadows Park on 17 August 2012. Contrast the Viceroy butterflies (shown above) with the Monarch (shown below): the Viceroy butterflies have a post-median black line across their hindwings; the Monarch does not.

Copyright © 2013 Walter Sanford. All rights reserved.