🦋Monarch butterfly
The monarch butterfly or simply monarch is a milkweed butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. Other common names, depending on region, include milkweed, common tiger, wanderer, and black-veined brown. It is among the most familiar of North American butterflies and an iconic pollinator, although it is not an especially effective pollinator of milkweeds. Its wings feature an easily recognizable black, orange, and white pattern, with a wingspan of 8.9–10.2 cm (3.5–4.0 in). A Müllerian mimic, the viceroy butterfly, is similar in color and pattern, but is markedly smaller and has an extra black stripe across each hindwing.
Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
IUCN Red List assessment, 2022.
- Body mass
- not recorded
- Body length
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- Shoulder height
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- Top speed
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- Bite force
- not recorded
- Maximum lifespan
- not recorded
Everything we know about the Monarch butterfly
Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.
No measurements for Monarch butterfly yet.
Family tree
- kingdomAnimalia
- ›phylumArthropoda
- ›classInsecta
- ›orderLepidoptera
- ›familyNymphalidae
- ›genusDanaus
- ›speciesDanaus plexippus
- classInsects · Insecta
- orderButterflies & moths · Lepidoptera
- genusDanaus
- subgenusDanaus subgenus Danaus
All 12 branches ↓Fewer branches ↑
- kingdomMetazoa
- phylumArthropoda
- subphylumHexapoda
- classInsects · Insecta
- subclassPterygota
- superorderAmphiesmenoptera
- orderButterflies & moths · Lepidoptera
- suborderGlossata
- subfamilyDanainae
- tribeDanaini
- genusDanaus
- subgenusDanaus subgenus Danaus
More about the Monarch butterfly
Animals caught on camera
Real footage of the animals on this site — hunting, fighting, and getting on with it.
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How speed, brain and bite scale with body size. This animal isn't in the sample yet.
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