Danaus gilippus
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
The queen butterfly (Danaus gilippus) is a North and South American butterfly in the family Nymphalidae with a wingspan of 80–85 mm (3+1⁄8–3+3⁄8 in). 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.
This species is possibly a close relative to the similarly colored soldier butterfly (or tropical queen, D. eresimus), in any case, it is not close to the plain tiger (D. chrysippus, African queen) as was long believed. There are seven subspecies.
Females lay one egg at a time on larval host plants. Larvae use these plants as a food source, whereas adult butterflies feed mainly on nectar from flowers. Unpalatability to avian predators is a feature of the butterfly; however, its level is highly variable. Unpalatability is correlated with the level of cardenolides obtained via the larval diet, but other compounds like alkaloids also play a part in promoting distastefulness.
Males patrol to search for females, who may mate up to 15 times a day. Male organs called hair-pencils play an important role in courtship, with males with lower hair-pencil counts being selected against. These hair-pencils may be involved in releasing pheromones during courtship that could attract female mates. Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Phoenix | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | San Antonio | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Austin | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Mesa | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Ciudad Juárez | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 6 | Monterrey | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 7 | Dallas | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Torreón | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 9 | León | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 10 | San Luis Potosí | 🇲🇽 México |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Queen sighting in San Diego on a given day, based on 58 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 150th most-seen of the 693 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
Any time of year
In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Queen in San Diego on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Queen sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
25th of 26
Of the 26 cities where we can rate Queen sightings, San Diego ranks 25th at under 5%. The best odds are in Phoenix (United States, about 40%), San Antonio (United States, about 30%) and Austin (United States, about 30%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Queen is recorded against all the insects logged in San Diego (58 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
