Monarch butterfly

Monarch butterfly
Female
Male
Conservation status
Apparently Secure  (NatureServe)[1]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Nymphalidae
Genus:	Danaus
Species:	D. plexippus
Binomial name
Danaus plexippus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms
Papilio plexippus Linnaeus, 1758 Danaus archippus (Fabricius, 1793)[2] Danaus menippe (Hübner, 1816)[3] Anosia plexippus Dyar, 1903

The monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) is an insect in the Nymphalidae family. It is the best-known butterfly in North America.^[4]

Monarchs are known for their long annual migrations. In North America, they travel long distances south in the fall, and north in the spring. They start to migrate south in about August. They must get to frost-free areas. Freezing will kill them. A migration towards the north starts in the spring.

No single individual makes the whole round trip.^[5] The migration north spans the life of three to four generations of the butterfly. A longer-lived "super generation" flies from the northern-most parts of the butterfly's range in Canada all the way to Mexico. It overwinters in the south, and breeds in the spring to start the next generation flying north. The following reference gives a map of the migration routes.^[6]

1. ↑ Monarch, NatureServe Explorer
2. ↑ Royal entomological society of London. Committee on generic nomenclature (2007) [1934]. The Generic Names of British Insects. Royal Entomological Society of London Committee on Generic Nomenclature, Committee on Generic Nomenclature. British Museum (Natural History). Dept. of Entomology. p. 20.
3. ↑ Scudder, Samuel H.; William M. Davis; Charles W. Woodworth; Leland O. Howard; Charles V. Riley; Samuel W. Williston (1989). The butterflies of the eastern United States and Canada with special reference to New England. The author. p. 721. ISBN 0-665-26322-8.
4. ↑ Brock, James P.; Kaufman, Kenn (2003). Butterflies of North America. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN 978-0-618-15312-1.
5. ↑ Pyle, Robert Michael; Society, National Audubon (1981). The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Butterflies. Alfred a Knopf Incorporated. p. 712. ISBN 978-0-394-51914-2.
6. ↑ "Migration and overwintering. USDA Forest Service". Archived from the original on 2016-06-10. Retrieved 2016-06-05.