Danaus chrysippus aegyptius - African monarch
Images: Click on each image to see a larger version
Photo(s): Left: Bart Wursten, nr Eggardon Hill, Vumba; right: David Gwynne-Evans, Mt Mabu, Mozambique
Species details:
| Notes: | It can store the poison from its foodplants in Asclepiadaceae in its body and is hence inedible to predators. Other species of butterflies, e.g. females of Papilio dardanus, have evolved to look very much like Danaus chrysippus (Batesian mimicry). |
| Distribution: | Common throughout southern Africa. |
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| Literature: | Henning, G.A., Pringle, E.L.L. & Ball, J.B. (1994), Pennington's Butterflies of Southern Africa, Struik Winchester, Cape Town, p. 47. Woodhall, S. (2005), Field guide to Butterflies of South Africa, Struik Publishers, Cape Town, p. 36. |