The name "monarch" is believed to have been given in honor of King William III of England, as the butterfly's main color … See more

Monarchs belong in the subfamily Danainae of the family Nymphalidae. Danainae was formerly considered a separately family Danaidae. The three species of monarch butterflies are:
• D. … See more

The monarch was the first butterfly to have its genome sequenced. The 273-million-base pair draft sequence includes a set of 16,866 protein-coding genes. The genome provides researchers insights into migratory behavior, t… See more

Like all Lepidoptera, monarchs undergo complete metamorphosis; their life cycle has four phases: egg, larva, pupa, and adult. Monarchs transition from eggs to adults during warm summer temperatures in as little a… See more

Physiological experiments suggest that monarch butterflies view the world through a tetrachromatic system. Like humans, their retina contain three types of opsin proteins, expressed in distinct photoreceptor cells, each of whi… See more