Monarch Butterfly - School-Age

Monarch Butterfly

Butterflies and moths are flying insects that belong to a group of insects called Lepidoptera. The word Lepidoptera comes from the Ancient Greek words for scale (lepis) and wing (pteron). Butterflies and moths are the only insects that have scales covering their wings.

Monarch Butterfly

The monarch butterfly is the best known butterfly in North America. Monarch butterflies are easy to recognize by their orange, black, and white markings. The wings of a monarch are bright orange with black veins, rimmed with a black border with white dots. The average wing span of a full-grown monarch is four inches (10 cm).

Monarchs are the state butterfly or state insect in Alabama, Idaho, Illinois, Minnesota, Texas, Vermont, and West Virginia.

Distribution

The Monarch Butterfly is native to the North American continent. The Monarchs range from North American to Central America and northern South America. It has been found in Australia, some Pacific Islands, and India. It rarely strays to western Europe, it can be transported there by ships or fly if the weather and wind conditions are right.

Monarch Distribution Map

Monarch Butterfly Migration

The largest population of the monarch butterfly is located in southern Canada and the northern United States. Monarchs cannot survive the cold winters of northern climates. Every autumn the monarch butterflies make an amazing migration south of 2,500 to 3,000 miles.

There are three routes the trip south follows. The monarchs that spend their summer between the Rockies and the Great Lakes will fly to Mexico to overwinter (spend the winter) or hibernate in the states of Mexico and Michoacan. Monarchs between the Great Lakes and the Atlantic coast will fly through the Carolinas and Florida and hibernate in the Yucatan Penisula in Mexico. Monarch butterflies that live west of the Rock Mountains will hibernate in parts of California in eucalyptus trees and Mexico.

A Butterfly's Bilateral Symmetry

Monarch Butterfly Migration Map

Live Cycle of the Monarch Butterfly Video

Monarch Butterfly Life Cycle

Butterfly Song color page.

Butterfly Life Cycle worksheet.

Monarch Life Cycle information and color page.

Butterfly Life Cycle Mobile

Monarch Butterfly Diet

Monarch caterpillars only eat the leaves of milkweed plants. Monarch butterflies feed on nectar of flowers.

Feeding on milkweed leaves.

The milkweed plants aids in the survival of the Monarch butterfly. The milkweed plant contains a white milky sap that makes the plant poisonous. Caterpillars of the Monarch butterfly feed on the leaves of the milkweed plant. They ingest the sap and store it in their bodies. The Monarch butterfly leaves the chrysalis stage as a poisonous butterfly. It will make predators sick when they feed on the Monarch butterfly.
Monarch Poisonous

Monarch Butterfly Body

Monarch butterflies are large beautiful flying insects. Monarchs have compound eyes, six legs, three body parts, one pair of antennae, and two sets of wings. Insects usually have two sets of wings. The three body parts are the head, thorax (middle), and abdomen (end).