monarch butterfly

English

monarch butterfly

Etymology

Believed to have been named in honor of King William III of England, as the butterfly’s main color is that of the king’s secondary title, Prince of Orange.[1]

Noun

monarch butterfly (plural monarch butterflies)

A butterfly of the species Danaus plexippus, native to North and Central America.
- 2015 November 24, Patrick Barkham, “Pesticide may be reason butterfly numbers are falling in UK, says study”, in The Guardian‎:
  A US study published earlier this year found that dust emitted when seeds treated with neonicotinoids are planted causes sub-lethal effects in caterpillars of the monarch butterfly.

Hypernyms

(Danaus plexippus): milkweed butterfly

Translations

Danaus plexippus

Galician: bolboreta monarca f
Hungarian: királylepke (hu)
Maori: kahuku
Nahuatl: quetzalpapalotl (nah)
Turkish: kral kelebeği (tr)

References

Douglas W. S. Sutherland (1992), “The Monarch Buterfly — Our National Insect”, in Jean Ruth Adams, editor, Insect Potpourri: Adventures in Entomology, Gainesville, Fla.: The Sandhill Crane Press, Inc., →ISBN, pages 28–29