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Viceroy Limentis archippus | October 21, 2012 |
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I had started my set of butterfly pages back in 2007 on realizing that State College, Pennsylvania, had an amazing number of different butterflies. (Coming from Long Island, I suppose I had experienced culture shock in wildlife variety.)
On my base butterfly listing, I featured one butterfly, a viceroy, because at the time it was a complete surprise to me. I had never seen a monarch mimic before. However, the viceroy proved elusive with only occasional sightings. Then on Sept. 9, 2012, I came across two viceroys together. Photographic heaven! |
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| The previous photo showed a viceroy (Limentis archippus) from below. The next photo is from above. |
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| The second viceroy was a little more ragged than the first. A butterfly can lead a tough life. |
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| The viceroy looks very much like a monarch, but a viceroy has an extra black bar that parallels the ends of its wings. For comparison, the follow photo is of a monarch. Notice the difference? |
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The viceroy is also a tad smaller than a monarch. So if you see what you think is a small monarch, odds are that you've encountered a viceroy.
Photo note: I used the Pentax K20D, with the Sigma 150-500mm lens, on September 9, 2012, for the first three. I forget which lens I used for the monarch though, which was taken last year. |