Soldier
The soldier is a dark reddish-brown butterfly and a cousin of the famous monarch. Its wing veins are lined with thin black stripes. It flies slowly, so it is quite easy to get close to.
How big is it?
How wide are its wings?
How big is Soldier compared to YOU?
Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
Its eggs are bright orange.
The caterpillar is black with white and yellow stripes and has six black, fleshy threads sticking out of its body.
Its chrysalis looks so much like a monarch's that people often cannot tell them apart.
It has three or more families every year.
It likes open places such as citrus groves, weedy pond edges and dry fields.
Most asked questions about Soldier
?What is the difference between a soldier and a monarch?
The monarch is more orange and has thicker black lines on its wings. The soldier is darker reddish brown.
?What does the soldier butterfly eat?
The adults drink nectar and the caterpillars eat milkweeds.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Danaus eresimus
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Nymphalidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Nymphalidae
- Lives on
- North America, South America
- Also known as
- Tropical queen
Where the facts come from
- Danaus eresimus (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Korall. CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
Bug Wiki honey jar For grown-ups: Bug Wiki is free, with no ads and no tracking. A small tip helps keep it online.Leave a tip
Monarch butterfly
Peacock butterfly
Blue morpho
Old World swallowtail
Small white
Eastern tiger swallowtail
Spiny flower mantis
Field cricket
American bird grasshopper
Convergent ladybird
American bumblebee
Yellow-striped armyworm moth