Queen

Danaus gilippus

The queen butterfly is a North and South American butterfly in the family Nymphalidae with a wingspan of 80–85 mm. It is orange or brown with black wing borders and small white forewing spots on its dorsal wing surface, and reddish ventral wing surface fairly similar to the dorsal surface. The ventral hindwings have black veins and small white spots in a black border. The male has a black androconial scent patch on its dorsal hindwings. It can be found in meadows, fields, marshes, deserts, and at the edges of forests. Source

Where it is now

In the last 8 weeks this insect was recorded 34 times across 3 areas (each area is a 5 degree square).

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Movement and weather

Over the weeks it was present in the past year, its centre in North America ranged from 23°N in December to 38°N in September, about 1,700 km apart.

Arrival dates

The week it was first heard regularly in each region, after at least six weeks away. Dates differ from south to north, so a region has a range.

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Figures are effort corrected and come from automatic sound identification, which makes mistakes. How this is measured and how it compares with human observers.