Queen Butterfly

Queen butterflies (Danaus gilippus) look very similar to monarch and viceroy butterflies, except the wings of queen butterflies are darker brown with white dots. Queens also don't have the thick black veins running through their wings like monarchs and viceroys do. Queen butterflies do have veins in their wings, but they are not nearly as thick as those of the monarch and viceroy butterflies.

With a wingspan of just a little over 3 inches (8 cm) they are also slightly smaller than monarchs and more similar in size to viceroys.

Queen butterflies belong to the family Nymphalidae, which also includes the monarch and viceroy. This is a family of butterflies known as the brush-footed butterflies. What this means is that their forelegs look more like brushes than legs. In fact, their forelegs are so thin that they are not very useful for walking.

queen butterfly caterpillar on milkweed plant

Queen butterflies can't withstand cold weather and so their range is from the western and southern United States down to Central America. They are rarely found in the midwestern states.

Female queen butterflies lay white eggs singly on the leaves of a host plant. They usually produce three broods per year.

Host plants for queen butterfly larva are two genera of the milkweed plant: Asclepias and Sarcostemma. Because their larva feeds on milkweed plants, birds usually leave queen butterflies alone because the milkweed eaten by the larva causes the adult butterflies to taste bad.

The queen caterpillar is shown in the image on the right. The queen chrysalis is green and looks almost identical to a monarch chrysalis.

Adult queens feed on flower nectar of a variety of flowers, but the list below includes some of their favorites:

Butterfly Bush
Butterfly Weed
Asters
Zinnias
Black-eyed Susans
Mexican Sunflower