Queen (Danaus gilippus)
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The Queen is closely related to the Monarch, with which it shares the larval food of milkweeds. It is, however, a bit smaller, chestnut brown instead of orange, and has no strong black veins on the upper sides of the wings.
The female (above) and male (below) look similar, but the male possesses a pair of very obvious raised black scent patches near the inner border of its hindwings. These are present in monarchs as well, but are obscured by the black veining. Another difference between the male and female is the amount of white tracing along the veins of the hindwings. Although this varies with individuals, males seem to have more white than females.
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The undersides of the hindwings are marked with heavy black veins, which can be confused with those of monarchs. This side view is also a male, as evidenced by the white spot bordered by black near the lower part of the hindwing which marks the scent patch. Females lack this feature.
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The larvae of the queen can sometimes be found feeding near those of the monarch, on any species of milkweed. Both have black, yellow, and white stripes on their smooth bodies, but the queen caterpillar has 6 fleshy tentacles while the monarch only has 4. The amounts of the different colors in the stripes is highly variable, as shown by the very dark individual on the left below vs. the normal colored one at right.
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class: Insecta / order: Lepidoptera / family: Danaidae / genus: Danaus / species: gilippus
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