VICEROY   Limenitis archippus 

                          
Common name: Viceroy butterfly 
  Genus/species: Basilarchia archippus 
  Order/family: Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae 
     
Characteristics: Mimics the Queen Butterfly, (Danaus gilipptlS), Unlike D. gilippus strigosus, the wing veins on obsoleta are edged with black and the white markings on  DHW and DFW arranged in definite rows.  

Habitats, Behavior: This pretty species is usually hard to  catch as it frequents the upper reaches of cottonwoods and other stream side trees. The Viceroy ranges through most of the United States.

Flight Period: Several broods, flying from April to October.

Larval Foodplants: Populus sp. (e. g. cottonwood), and Salix spp. 

The Viceroy is found from southern Canada and New England south to Georgia and Mississippi, west from eastern Colorado and Montana to Washington State. The orange and black Viceroy (Limenitis archippus) was given its common name because it mimics the Queen and poisonous Monarch butterflies. It has however, a much more restricted range than the Monarch. Birds avoid Viceroys if they have previously sampled a Monarch or a Queen. The veins of this species are dusted with black scales and the hind wing has a narrow black line on the hindwing. 

The caterpillars have a striking resemblance to bird droppings, giving the insect considerable protection from
predators. 

The eggs of the Viceroy are ovoid but flattened near their point at attachment to the foodplant and pale green or
pale yellow, turning grayish later. They are laid singly, preferably on the upperside of the tips of young host
leaves. 

The prediapausal larvae characteristically construct hibernacula (small cylindrical overwintering shelters made of a foodplant leaf and silk). It has been suggested that the hibernacula diverts predators' attention from
the larva. The mature larva resembles a bird dropping. 

The larvae feed (often at night) on catkins in spring, later on leaves. Numbers of adult broods vary from one to
three or four, depending on the species and geographic location. The pupae have a characteristic
postcephalic "saddle horn" and prominent, lateral wing cases. 

The mature larvae of the Viceroy closely resemble those of L. astyanax and L. arthemis. 

Male Viceroy perch 1-2 m above the ground on vegetation and patrol all day near the host plants to seek females. They glide with their wings held horizontally, not at an angle as does a Monarch or Queen. 

The Viceroy has one flight, probably June-July, in the far northern part of its range and two flights, mostly June and August in the northern United States and Ontario. 

A wide variety of foodplants is favoured, including willow, poplar, aspen, cottonwood, and less often birch, oak, hawthorn, gooseberry, deerberry, apple, cherry, plum and basswood. The adult Viceroy will sip flower nectar,
aphid honeydew, and moisture from rotting wood, fungi, dung, mud, and sap. 

Birds that have not had the experience of sampling a poisonous Monarch or Queen butterfly readily eat Viceroy butterflies.