Limenitis archippus
| Limenitis archippus | ||||||||||||
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Limenitis archippus |
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| Limenitis archippus | ||||||||||||
| Cramer , 1775 |
Limenitis archippus (syn. Basilarchia archippus ) is a North American butterfly from the subfamily Limenitidinae ( kingfishers ) within the family of noble butterflies (Nymphalidae) and is called Viceroy Butterfly ( viceroy )in English. The butterfly forms mimicry with the monarch butterfly ( Danaus plexippus ) and other species and subspecies from the genus Danaus .
features
Imago
The nominate form Limenitis archippus archippus has an orange basic color with black veins. This is an atypical appearance for the genus, whose species usually have black upper wing surfaces with white bands. It is very similar to the monarch butterfly in size and color, but can be distinguished from it by an additional black stripe in the post-disk region on the hind wing. Its wingspan is between 70 and 75 millimeters. The subspecies Limenitis archippus floridensis has a brownish base color instead of an orange one and the subspecies L. archippus obsoleta is reddish brown, whereby the dark line on the upper side of the hind wing has almost disappeared. The butterfly is slightly smaller than its mimicry models.
Caterpillar
The caterpillars of the nominate species L. archippus archippus are mostly brown-yellow, rarely olive-green, with a tan-colored thorax . The head is red-brown and has two small black thorny horns with a smaller horn behind each. The thickened thorax has two strongly branched black horns that are shorter than other species of the genus. In the middle of the abdomen is a saddle-shaped bulge with jagged corners that is pinkish-white or cream-colored. Cream-colored spots form a line on the side. There are five pairs of small thorns on the abdomen.
The caterpillars of the subspecies L. a. obsoleta are almost identical, behind they are yellow-brown to brown and the lateral spots are whitish-gray. The caterpillars of the subspecies L. a. floridensis are olive green and have a paler red head. The horns on the red-brown thorax are longer and the saddle-shaped bulge can also be red-brown.
Doll
The unusually shaped doll is reminiscent of a dolphin without fins. The saddle-shaped bulge of the caterpillar is also preserved in the pupa. The nominate form is speckled with black-green, tan, pink and gray and is lightest on the abdomen.
In the obsolete subspecies , the pupa is brownish and the middle of the abdomen whitish and represents a mimicry of bird droppings .
In the subspecies floridensis , the pupa is brown and has silver spots on the head and wings. The abdomen is dark brown and at the end yellowish with green flecks.
egg
The eggs are pale green or pale yellow and later turn greyish.
mimicry
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Underside of the wing of Danaus plexippus , black arch line on the hind wing missing
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Underside of the wing of Limenitis archippus , clearly visible the post-disk black line on the hind wing
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The mimicry with the poisonous butterflies of the genus Danaus has been known for a long time and has long been taken for Bata's mimicry, in which non-poisonous or harmless animals imitate poisonous or defensive animals. Recent studies have shown that Limenitis archippus is also inedible, as are other species of the genus. That is why mimicry is now classified as signal normalization (Müllerian mimicry). The orange subspecies L. archippus archippus developed a signal normalization with the monarch butterfly ( Danaus plexippus ) in the northern distribution area . In areas where the monarch is seldom seen, in the southwest and southeast of the United States, it mimics reddish brown to brown subspecies of Danaus gilippus . From eastern Texas to Florida , the red-brown subspecies L. archippus floridensis mimics D. gilippus berenice, and from western Texas to Arizona, the brown subspecies L. archippus obsoleta mimics D. gillipus strigosus .
Occurrence
The species is distributed in North America from the east coast of the USA to the Northwest Territories of Canada in the northwest, along the eastern edge of the Cascade Range and the Sierra Nevada south to southern Mexico . The populated habitats include the subtropics in the south of the distribution area to the deciduous deciduous forests in the eastern USA.
Way of life
The males often sit in the vegetation at a height of one to two meters. Throughout the day they fly through their territory in search of females. The females lay the eggs one by one on top of young shoots of the host plants.
development
In the first two stages, the caterpillars eat the tip of the leaf down to the central vein on which they rest. They spin a small ball of pieces of leaf and excrement together near their feeding point. This ball wobbling in the wind is likely to distract enemies from the caterpillar.
In the third stage, the caterpillar overwinters and builds a hibernaculum from rolled up leaves: the caterpillar eats the tip of the leaf and leaves the central vein standing again, the leaf is woven into a tube with spider threads and tied to a branch on the petiole. The caterpillar crawls into the tube head first and hibernates. This diapause is triggered by the shortened day length in late summer / autumn.
Food of the moths
The moths suckle on flowers, honeydew from aphids , rotting wood, mushrooms , mud, plant juices and excrement .
Food of the caterpillars
The caterpillars feed on a large number of plants from the families of the willow family (Salicaceae), birch family (Betulaceae) and rose family (Rosaceae).
Proven food plants are:
- Salicaceae: Salix exigua , S. sericea , American black willow ( S. nigra ), S. interior , S. cordata , S. discolor , S. caroliniana , Populus gileadensis , P. Fremontii , P. heterophylla , Western balsam poplar ( Populus trichocarpa ), P. grandidentata , P. tremuloides , silver poplar ( Populus alba ), P. deltoides , balsam poplar ( Populus balsamifera ), P. nigra and P.nigra var. Italica
- Betulaceae: paper birch ( Betula papyrifera );
- Rosaceae: Plum ( Prunus domestica ), Late bird cherry ( Prunus serotina ), Mains pumila, cultivated pear ( Pyrus communis ), hawthorn ( Crataegus ), rock pear ( Amelanchier ), Chrysobalanus oblongifolius
Flight time
In the south of the range, four or more generations develop per year. In the northern United States and Ontario , two generations fly in June and August, and in the far north, one generation flies from June to July.
swell
- Scott, James A .: The butterflies of North America . Stanford University Press, Stanford, California 1986, ISBN 0-8047-1205-0 , pp. 259 f . (632 pp.).
- Carter, David J .: Ravensburger Nature Guide: Day and Night Butterflies . Ravensburger Buchverlag Otto Maier GmbH, 1994, ISBN 3-473-46078-8 , p. 124 above .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Elizabeth Balmer: Butterflies: Recognize and determine. Parragon Books Ltd., 2007, ISBN 978-1-4075-1203-7 , pp. 100-101
- ↑ David B. Ritland: Mimicry-Related Predation on Two Viceroy Butterfly (Limenitis archippus) Phenotypes . In: University of Notre Dame (Ed.): American Midland Naturalist . tape 140 , no. 1 . Notre Dame July 1998, p. 1-20 ( HTML [accessed February 10, 2008]).
Web links
- www.wildutah.us Photos caterpillar