Wildlife Gardening/Taxon/Danaus plexippus/Variation

Variation Variation Adults are sexually dimorphic. The shape and color of the wings change at the beginning of the migration and appear redder and more elongated than later migrants.Satterfield Dara A. Davis Andrew K. Variation in wing characteristics of monarch butterflies during migration: Earlier migrants have redder and more elongated wings Animal Migration April 2014 2 1 10.2478/ami-2014-0001 Wings size and shape differ between migratory and non-migratory monarchs. Monarchs from eastern North America have larger and more angular forewings than those in the western population.Xerces Society http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/species/invertebrates/pdfs/Monarch_ESA_Petition.pdf Petition to protect the Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus plexippus) under the endangered species act 1 September 2014 Sexual dimorphism of monarchs Female Male Description thumb|center|upright|Adult female. thumb|center|upright|Adult male. Males are slightly larger than females and have a black patch or spot of androconial scales on each hindwing. The male's black wing veins are lighter and narrower than those of females.http://www.dbc.uci.edu/~pjbryant/biodiv/lepidopt/danaidae/monarchm.htm Monarch, Danaus plexippus 27 August 2008 dead https://archive.today/20121215095741/http://www.dbc.uci.edu/~pjbryant/biodiv/lepidopt/danaidae/monarchm.htm 15 December 2012 dmy-all Varieties of monarchs Caterpillar Chrysalis Adult Description thumb|center|upright|Taxon Danaus plexippus D. p. plexippus caterpillar. thumb|center|upright|D. p. plexippus chrysalis. thumb|center|upright|D. p. plexippus adult. Short paragraph or so of descriptive text. thumb|center|upright|Taxon Danaus plexippus plexippus D. p. plexippus form nivosus, or the white monarch. Caterpillar pictured. thumb|center|upright|D. p. plexippus form nivosus chrysalis. thumb|center|upright|D. p. plexippus form nivosus adult. Known informally as the "white monarch", but called nivosus by lepidopterists. It is grayish white in all areas of its wings that are normally orange and is only about 1% or less of all monarchs, but populations as high as 10% exist on Oahu in Hawaii. Also observed in Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia and the United States.Gibbs Lawrence Taylor, O.R. The White Monarch Department of Entomology University of Kansas 1998 http://monarchwatch.org/read/articles/nivosus.htm 17 July 2014 thumb|center|upright|Taxon Danaus plexippus nigrippus D. p. nigrippus caterpillar. thumb|center|upright|D. p. nigrippus chrysalis. thumb|center|upright|D. p. nigrippus adult. Short paragraph or so of descriptive text. thumb|center|upright|Taxon Danaus plexippus megalippe D. p. megalippe caterpillar. thumb|center|upright|D. p. megalippe chrysalis. thumb|center|upright|D. p. megalippe adult. Short paragraph or so of descriptive text. thumb|center|upright|Taxon Danaus plexippus leucogyne D. p. leucogyne caterpillar. thumb|center|upright|D. p. leucogyne chrysalis. thumb|center|upright|D. p. leucogyne adult. Short paragraph or so of descriptive text. thumb|center|upright|Taxon Danaus plexippus portoricensis D. p. portoricensis caterpillar. thumb|center|upright|D. p. portoricensis chrysalis. thumb|center|upright|D. p. portoricensis adult. Short paragraph or so of descriptive text. thumb|center|upright|Taxon Danaus plexippus tobagi D. p. tobagi caterpillar. thumb|center|upright|D. p. tobagi chrysalis. thumb|center|upright|D. p. tobagi adult. Short paragraph or so of descriptive text.