The monarch butterfly is a milkweed butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. Common names include milkweed, common tiger, wanderer, and black veined brown. They live in North, Central, and South America as well as Australia, some Pacific Islands, India, and Western Europe. Their markings include bright orange wings covered with black veins and rimmed with a black border and white dots. The name “monarch” is believed to be given in honor of King William III of England, whose secondary title Prince of Orange makes a reference to the butterfly’s main color. Monarchs signal to other animals that they are poisonous by having bright orange wings. The bright colors serve as a warning that predators should attack at their own risk. Male monarchs have two black spots in the center of their hind wings, which females lack. These spots are scent glands that help males attract female mates. Females have thicker wing veins than males. Monarchs’ life cycle has four phases: egg, larva, pupa, and adult. As caterpillars, monarchs feed exclusively on the leaves of milkweed. Milkweed produces glycoside toxins to deter animals from eating them. The toxins remain in their system even after metamorphosis, protecting them as adult butterflies as well. As adults, monarchs feed on nectar from a wide range of blooming native plants, including milkweed. The annual monarch life cycle and migration begins at the monarchs’ overwintering grounds in Mexico (for the eastern population) and the central to southern California coastal region (for the western population). Around March, the overwintering monarchs begin their journey north. Once migration begins, monarchs become sexually mature and mate. The females begin their search for milkweed plants on which to lay eggs. After mating and egg-laying, the adult butterflies die and the northward migration is continued by their offspring. It takes three to five generations to repopulate the rest of the United States and southern Canada until the final generation of the year hatches and does the return journey to the overwintering grounds. The monarch migration is one of the greatest phenomena in the natural world. Monarchs know the correct direction to migrate even though the individuals that migrate have never made the journey before. They follow an internal “compass" that points them in the right direction each spring and fall. A single monarch can travel hundreds or even thousands of miles. The surface of a Monarch’s wing is covered with thousands of tiny, colorful scales. After flying long period of time, loss of these scales is what causes Monarchs to lose their color. The monarch is the state insect of Alabama, Idaho, Illinois, Minnesota, Texas, Vermont, and West Virginia.
帝王斑蝶是蛺蝶科的一種斑蝶族蝴蝶。又名黑脉金斑蝶，褐脈棕斑蝶，大樺斑蝶，君主斑蝶，帝王蝶。它們生活在北美洲、中美洲和南美洲以及澳洲、一些太平洋島嶼、印度和西歐。它們的標記是鲜橙色的翅膀，翅膀上有黑色的紋理，黑色的邊框和白色的圓點。有人認為“君主”這個名字是為紀念英格蘭國王威廉三世而來的，因為它又稱為橙色王子，那是君主斑蝶的主要顏色。雄性帝王斑蝶後翅中央有兩個黑點，而雌性則沒有。這些斑點是幫助雄蝶吸引雌蝶伴侶的氣味腺。雌蝶的翅脈比雄蝶的更粗。帝王斑蝶的生命週期有四個階段：卵、幼蟲、蛹、成蟲。身為毛毛蟲，帝王斑蝶只以馬利筋的葉子為食。馬利筋產生糖苷毒素以免動物食用它們。即使在蛻變之後，毒素仍保留在它們的系統中，在成蝶時也能保護它們。成年後，帝王斑蝶以各種開花的原生植物（包括馬利筋）的花蜜為食。帝王斑蝶每年的生命週期和遷徙始於在墨西哥的越冬地（東部族群）和加州中部至南部沿海地區的越冬地（西部族群)。三月左右，越冬的帝王斑蝶開始向北遷徙。遷徙開始後，它們就會性成熟並交配。雌性開始尋找可以產卵的馬利筋植物。交配產卵後，成蝶死去，它們的後代繼續向北遷移。需要三到五代的時間才能在美國其他地區和加拿大南部重新繁衍生息，直到最後一代孵化並返回越冬地。帝王斑蝶遷徙是自然界最偉大的現象之一。帝王斑蝶知道遷徙的正確方向，即使遷徙的個體以前從未踏過這趟旅程。它們遵循體內的“指南針”，每年春天和秋天為它們指明正確的方向。一隻帝王斑蝶可以遷徙數百甚至數千英里。帝王斑蝶的翅膀表面覆蓋著成千上萬的微小彩色鱗片。由於長期飛行會掉一些鱗片，因而導致它失去一些顏色。帝王斑蝶是阿拉巴馬州、愛達荷州、伊利諾州、明尼蘇達州、德州、佛蒙特州和西維吉尼亞州的州昆蟲。
Notes 筆記
- The monarch butterfly is a milkweed butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. Common names include milkweed, common tiger, wanderer, and black veined brown. They live in North, Central, and South America as well as Australia, some Pacific Islands, India, and Western Europe.
- Their markings include bright orange wings covered with black veins and rimmed with a black border and white dots. The name “monarch” is believed to be given in honor of King William III of England, whose secondary title Prince of Orange makes a reference to the butterfly’s main color. Monarchs signal to other animals that they are poisonous by having bright orange wings. The bright colors serve as a warning that predators should attack at their own risk. Male monarchs have two black spots in the center of their hind wings, which females lack. These spots are scent glands that help males attract female mates. Females have thicker wing veins than males.
- The other version source of the name: The monarch was originally described by Carl Linnaeus, a Swedish biologist and physician who formalized binomial nomenclature, in 1758. In 1780, Jan Krzysztof Kluk used the monarch as the type species for a new genus, Danaus. Danaus was a mythical king in Egypt or Libya, who founded Argos; Plexippus was one of the 50 sons of Aegyptus, the twin brother of Danaus. Linnaeus wrote that the names of the Danai festivi, the division of the genus to which Papilio plexippus belonged, were derived from the sons of Aegyptus. Linnaeus divided his large genus Papilio, containing all known butterfly species, into what we would now call subgenera. The Danai festivi formed one of the "subgenera", containing colorful species, as opposed to the Danai candidi, containing species with bright white wings. Linnaeus wrote: "The names of the Danai candidi have been derived from the daughters of Danaus, those of the Danai festivi from the sons of Aegyptus.".
- Monarchs’ life cycle has four phases: egg, larva, pupa, and adult. Monarchs transition from eggs to adults during warm summer temperatures in as little as 25 days, extending to as many as seven weeks during cool spring conditions. During their development, both larvae and their milkweed hosts are vulnerable to weather extremes, predators, parasites, and diseases; commonly fewer than 10% of monarch eggs and caterpillars survive.
- As caterpillars, monarchs feed exclusively on the leaves of milkweed. Milkweed produces glycoside toxins to deter animals from eating them. The toxins remain in their system even after metamorphosis, protecting them as adult butterflies as well. As adults, monarchs feed on nectar from a wide range of blooming native plants, including milkweed.
- Physiological experiments suggest that monarch butterflies view the world through a tetrachromatic system. One of those types of photoreceptor cells corresponds to a wavelength in the ultraviolet range; the other two correspond to blue and green. In addition to these three photoreceptors cells in the main retina, monarch butterfly eyes contain orange filtering pigments that filter the light reaching some green-absorbing opsins, thereby making a fourth photoreceptor cell sensitive to longer-wavelength light. The ultraviolet opsin protein has also been detected in the dorsal rim region of monarch eyes. This allows the butterflies the ability to detect ultraviolet polarized skylight to orient themselves with the sun for their long migratory flight. These butterflies are capable of distinguishing colors based on their wavelength onl; this phenomenon is termed "true color vision". This is important for many butterfly behaviors, including seeking nectar for nourishment, choosing a mate, and finding milkweed on which to lay eggs.
- The annual monarch life cycle and migration begins at the monarchs’ overwintering grounds in Mexico (for the eastern population) and the central to southern California coastal region (for the western population). Around March, the overwintering monarchs begin their journey north. Once migration begins, monarchs become sexually mature and mate. The females begin their search for milkweed plants on which to lay eggs. After mating and egg-laying, the adult butterflies die and the northward migration is continued by their offspring. It takes three to five generations to repopulate the rest of the United States and southern Canada until the final generation of the year hatches and does the return journey to the overwintering grounds. The monarch migration is one of the greatest phenomena in the natural world. Monarchs know the correct direction to migrate even though the individuals that migrate have never made the journey before. They follow an internal “compass" that points them in the right direction each spring and fall. A single monarch can travel hundreds or even thousands of miles. Monarchs return to the same forests each year, and some even find the same tree that their ancestors landed on. Some estimates say up to a billion butterflies arrive in the mountains of Mexico each year.
- The surface of a Monarch’s wing is covered with thousands of tiny, colorful scales. After flying long period of time, loss of these scales is what causes Monarchs to lose their color.
- The monarch is the state insect of Alabama, Idaho, Illinois, Minnesota, Texas, Vermont, and West Virginia.
- 帝王斑蝶是蛺蝶科的一種斑蝶族蝴蝶。又名黑脉金斑蝶，褐脈棕斑蝶，大樺斑蝶，君主斑蝶，帝王蝶。它們生活在北美洲、中美洲和南美洲以及澳洲、一些太平洋島嶼、印度和西歐。
- 它們的標記是鲜橙色的翅膀，翅膀上有黑色的紋理，黑色的邊框和白色的圓點。有人認為“君主”這個名字是為紀念英格蘭國王威廉三世而來的，因為它又稱為橙色王子，那是君主斑蝶的主要顏色。帝王斑蝶透過鲜橙色的翅膀來向其他動物發出它們有毒的信號。鮮豔的顏色是對掠食者的警告，攻擊者應自擔風險。雄性帝王斑蝶後翅中央有兩個黑點，而雌性則沒有。這些斑點是幫助雄蝶吸引雌蝶伴侶的氣味腺。雌蝶的翅脈比雄蝶的更粗。
- 另一個版本的名稱來源：帝王斑蝶最初由瑞典生物學家和醫生卡爾-林奈 (Carl Linnaeus)(他正式製定了二名法) 於1758年確定。1780 年，Jan Krzysztof Kluk 用帝王斑蝶作為新屬斑蝶属 (Danaus)的模式種。丹尼亞斯（Danaus）是埃及或利比亞神話中的國王，他建立了阿爾戈斯 (Argos)。普萊西普斯（Plexippus）是丹尼亞斯的雙胞胎兄弟埃埃及托斯（Aegyptus）的50個兒子之一。林奈寫道，鳳蝶所屬的科"Danai festivi"的名稱源自埃埃及托斯的兒子們。林奈將鳳蝶屬 (Papilio)（包含所有已知的蝴蝶種類）分成我們現在所說的亞屬。Danai festivi 是亞屬之一，包含色彩繽紛的物種，而 Danai candidi 則包含有鲜白色翅膀的物種。林奈寫道：“Danai candidi的名字源自丹尼亞斯的女兒們，Danai festivi的名字源自埃埃及托斯的兒子。”
- 帝王斑蝶的生命週期有四個階段：卵、幼蟲、蛹、成蟲。在溫暖的夏季，帝王斑蝶從卵轉變為成蟲只需短短 25 天，在涼爽的春季則需要長達 7 週的時間。在發育過程中，幼蟲及其馬利筋宿主都容易受到極端天氣、捕食者、寄生蟲和疾病的影響。通常帝王蝶斑卵和毛毛蟲的存活率不到 10%。
- 身為毛毛蟲，帝王斑蝶只以馬利筋的葉子為食。馬利筋產生糖苷毒素以免動物食用它們。即使在蛻變之後，毒素仍保留在它們的系統中，在成蝶時也能保護它們。成年後，帝王斑蝶以各種開花的原生植物（包括馬利筋）的花蜜為食。
- 生理實驗表明，帝王斑蝶透過四色系統觀察世界。其中一種類型的感光細胞對應於紫外線範圍內的波長；另外兩個對應藍色和綠色。除了主視網膜中的這三個感光細胞之外，帝王斑蝶的眼睛還含有橙色過濾色素，可以過濾到達一些綠色吸收視蛋白的光線，從而使第四個感光細胞對較長波長的光敏感。在帝王斑蝶眼睛的背緣區域也檢測到了紫外線視蛋白。這使得蝴蝶能夠檢測紫外線偏振天光，以便在長途遷徙飛行中根據太陽定向。這些蝴蝶能夠僅根據波長來區分顏色，這種現象稱為「真色視覺」。這對蝴蝶的許多行為都很重要，包括尋找花蜜獲取營養、選擇配偶以及尋找馬利筋產卵。
- 帝王斑蝶每年的生命週期和遷徙始於在墨西哥的越冬地（東部族群）和加州中部至南部沿海地區的越冬地（西部族群)。三月左右，越冬的帝王斑蝶開始向北遷徙。遷徙開始後，它們就會性成熟並交配。雌性開始尋找可以產卵的馬利筋植物。交配產卵後，成蝶死去，它們的後代繼續向北遷移。需要三到五代的時間才能在美國其他地區和加拿大南部重新繁衍生息，直到最後一代孵化並返回越冬地。帝王斑蝶遷徙是自然界最偉大的現象之一。帝王斑蝶知道遷徙的正確方向，即使遷徙的個體以前從未踏過這趟旅程。它們遵循體內的“指南針”，每年春天和秋天為它們指明正確的方向。一隻帝王斑蝶可以遷徙數百甚至數千英里。帝王斑蝶每年都會回到同樣的森林，有些帝王斑蝶甚至會找到它們祖先降落的同一棵樹。據估計，每年有多達十億隻蝴蝶抵達墨西哥山區。
- 帝王斑蝶的翅膀表面覆蓋著成千上萬的微小彩色鱗片。由於長期飛行會掉一些鱗片，因而導致它失去一些顏色。
- 帝王斑蝶是阿拉巴馬州、愛達荷州、伊利諾州、明尼蘇達州、德州、佛蒙特州和西維吉尼亞州的州昆蟲。
Insects Posts 昆蟲的帖子
References 參考資料
- Wikipedia: Monarch butterfly
- National Wildlife Federation: Monarch Butterfly
- National Geograic Kids: Monarch Butterfly
- 臺灣生命大百科: Danaus plexippus (Linnaeus, 1758)