Most of us – by the time we reach high school – have learned about the monarch butterfly tasting bad to predators because it eats milkweed. We might also have learned about its similar-looking relatives that also eat milkweed:the darker-colored Queen Butterfly and the Soldier Butterfly and a much more distant relative that eats willow leaves -- the Viceroy Butterfly. All of these occur in south Florida. Because of the noxious chemicals in their favored food plants, they are distasteful to potential predators.Because of their similar appearances, predators that try to eat one of them may see all of them as distasteful – and therefore avoid all of them. The caterpillars of the close Monarch relatives may also be protected at that life stage by their similarity. But the caterpillar of the Viceroy Butterfly is quite different. Instead of distinctive bands and similar colors, the Viceroy caterpillar is a dull gray with a large patch of white on it – making it look like tree bark with white bird droppings on it.
In this week’s “Wild Things” we’ll explore their relationships and the benefits of their similarity to one another.
Introduction to the Monarch Butterfly, look-alike relatives, and a distant mimic.
