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Viceroy Butterfly
Limenitis archippus
35.7465, -79.9805
Field Notes
Description:
The viceroy (Limenitis archippus) is a North American butterfly that ranges through most of the contiguous United States as well as parts of Canada and Mexico. The westernmost portion of its range extends from the Northwest Territories along the eastern edges of the Cascade Range and Sierra Nevada mountains, southwards into central Mexico. Its easternmost range extends along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of North America from Nova Scotia into Texas
Habitat:
Occurs in moist open or shrubby areas such as lakes, swamp edges, willow thickets, valley bottoms, wet meadows and agricultural and rural areas.
Notes:
In all life stages the viceroy mimics something. The eggs resemble insect galls that affect the host plants. The caterpillars resemble bird droppings. They roll bits of leaf material to hang near them as a distraction. Older caterpillars look formidable with its tubercles. Even the overwintering caterpillar rolls up in a leaf tip to hide from predators. Because the adults resemble monarch butterflies, they are often bypassed for other prey.
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