Diet

• Caterpillars feed primarily on milkweeds and milkweed vines.

• Adults feed on nectar from a wide variety of flowers, including milkweeds, fogfruit, and other flowering plants.

• Milkweed toxins, particularly cardiac glycosides, can be retained by the caterpillar and adult, making the butterfly distasteful to many predators.

Range

• The Queen occurs from the southern United States through Mexico and Central America, the Caribbean, and southward into South America as far as Argentina.

• It is well within its normal range in Guerrero and can be encountered in the Zihua area, particularly where milkweed vines and open flowering vegetation are present.

• It is generally associated with warm regions and is especially widespread in tropical and subtropical lowlands.

Habitat

• Queens favor open, sunny habitats, including forest edges, clearings, fields, pastures, scrub, roadsides, waterways, gardens, and other disturbed areas.

• In the Zihua region, look for it around flowering vegetation and patches of milkweed or milkweed vines, particularly along sunny edges rather than deep forest.

Description

• A medium-to-large butterfly with a wingspan of approximately 67–98 mm.

• The upper wings are predominantly chestnut to dark reddish-brown, bordered by broad black margins containing two rows of small white spots. Additional white spots occur near the forewing tips.

• The underside is darker and shows prominent black veins, especially on the hindwings.

• Males have a conspicuous black scent-scale patch on the upper surface of each hindwing, used in courtship.

• The Queen can be confused with the closely related Soldier (Danaus eresimus) and with the Monarch (Danaus plexippus). The Queen is generally browner than the Soldier, while its hindwing underside lacks the distinct pale band of spots characteristic of the Soldier.

• Caterpillars are darkly striped and have three pairs of fleshy projections, compared with two pairs in Monarch caterpillars.