How does the monarch butterfly see?
The monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) is a insect in the order Lepidoptera. Its eyes belong to the vision type Butterfly multispectral.
Measured in this species: colour and night vision. Measured colour or sharpness: a measured receptor set or acuity in this species; other dials come from relatives or group defaults. Every value below carries its evidence level and sources; nothing is typed by hand.
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What stands out
- It has 8 colour receptor classes, including ultraviolet; people have 3.
- Its sharpest vision resolves 0.52 cycles per degree: the finest stripe pattern it can tell apart from grey.
- It stops seeing flicker at 187.5 Hz, against 60 Hz for people in this dataset, so fast motion looks about 3.1 times slower to it.[12][13]
- Activity pattern: diurnal.
The six dials
Evidence levels: how the tiers work. "Measured" means a value measured in this species; "Estimated" values come from a close relative or an eye-size formula.
| Dial | Value | Evidence | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colour | Colour receptors 8 receptor classes: 330 nm (UVS), 337.5 nm (UVS), 435 nm (VS/SWS (violet)), 450 nm (SWS (blue)), 525 nm (MWS (green)), 537.5 nm (MWS (green)), 570 nm (LWS (long)), 610 nm (LWS (long)) measured in this species | Measured (not re-verified) | [1][2][3] |
| Ultraviolet yes: at least one receptor peaks in the ultraviolet | Measured (not re-verified) | ||
| Sharpness | Acuity 0.52 cycles per degree median of 20 relatives in family Nymphalidae: Caligo memnon, Caligo eurilochus, Asterocampa leilia, Morpho peleides, Parthenos sylvia, Polygonia c-album | Estimated | [4][5][6][7] |
| Angle between facets 0.98° median of 9 relatives in family Nymphalidae: Caligo memnon, Caligo eurilochus, Asterocampa leilia, Morpho peleides, Parthenos sylvia, Polygonia c-album | Estimated | [4] | |
| Eye type compound eye | |||
| Field of view | No value in the catalogue. | ||
| Sharp zones (foveas) | Number of foveas 0 median of 91 relatives in class Insecta: Empis prodromus, Rhamphomyia albidiventris, Rhamphomyia breviventris, Rhamphomyia maculipennis, Rhamphomyia marginata, Rhamphomyia murina | Group default | [8] |
| Fovea type none | Group default | [8] | |
| Night vision | Activity pattern diurnal mode of 2 rows (of 2 rows): diurnal | Measured | [9][10] |
| Rods vs cones no rods (invertebrate photoreceptors) nocturnal -> rod-dominated; crepuscular / cathemeral / mixed -> mixed; diurnal -> cone-dominated | Derived | [9][10] | |
| Motion (flicker fusion) | Flicker fusion frequency 187.5 Hz median of 1 relatives in genus Danaus: Danaus chrysippus | Estimated | [11] |
Related animals
- Asian swallowtail same vision type
- Coffee bee hawkmoth same vision type
- Common bluebottle butterfly same vision type
- Common eggfly same vision type
- Common evening brown same vision type
- Small white same vision type
More insects: all insects with measured vision data.
Sources
- Pirih P et al. 2022. Opponent processing in the retinal mosaic of nymphalid butterflies. Phil Trans R Soc B. Data: Dryad doi:10.5061/dryad.9cnp5hqkq. doi.org/10.5061/dryad.9cnp5hqkq
- van der Kooi CJ, Stavenga DG, Arikawa K, Belusic G, Kelber A. 2021. Evolution of insect color vision: from spectral sensitivity to visual ecology. Annu Rev Entomol 66:435-461. Supplementary table. doi.org/10.1146/annurev-ento-061720-071644
- Belušič G, Ilić M, Meglič A et al. 2021. Red-green opponency in the long visual fibre photoreceptors of brushfoot butterflies (Nymphalidae). Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.1560
- Caves EM, Brandley NC, Johnsen S (2018) Visual acuity and the evolution of signals. Trends Ecol Evol 33:358-372. Supplementary Tables S1-S3.. doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2018.03.001
- AndrewPMeade/FabricTools, sciphy/data_utils/datasets/Arthropod.CompoundEyes.csv (acuity, body length, light, media for 281 arthropods; columns match Feller et al. 2021 Arthropod Struct Dev 60:101002). github.com/AndrewPMeade/FabricTools
- Feller KD, Sharkey CR, McDuffee-Altekruse A, Bracken-Grissom HD, Lord NP, Porter ML, Schweikert LE 2021. Surf and turf vision: patterns and predictors of visual acuity in compound eye evolution. Arthropod Structure & Development 60:101002. doi.org/10.1016/j.asd.2020.101002
- Wright DS, Manel AN, Guachamin-Rosero M, Chamba-Vaca P, Bacquet CN, Merrill RM 2023. Quantifying visual acuity in Heliconius butterflies. Biology Letters. zenodo.org/records/10127023
- Comparative data for dance fly eye morphology and female ornamentation (Empididae). Data: Dryad doi:10.5061/dryad.rr4xgxd5z. doi.org/10.5061/dryad.rr4xgxd5z
- Feuda R, Marletaz F, Bentley MA, Holland PWH. 2016. Conservation, duplication, and divergence of five opsin genes in insect evolution. Genome Biol Evol 8:579-587
- Sondhi Y, Ellis EA, Bybee SM, Theobald JC, Kawahara AY. 2021. Light environment drives evolution of color vision genes in butterflies and moths. Commun Biol 4:177
- Lafitte A, Sordello R, Legrand M, Nicolas V, Obein G, Reyjol Y. 2022. A flashing light may not be that flashy: A systematic review on critical fusion frequencies. PLoS ONE 17(12): e0279718. S10 File (CFF database). doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0279718
- Healy K, McNally L, Ruxton GD, Cooper N, Jackson AL. 2013. Metabolic rate and body size are linked with perception of temporal information. Animal Behaviour 86:685-696. Table 1. doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2013.06.018
- Inger R, Bennie J, Davies TW, Gaston KJ. 2014. Potential biological and ecological effects of flickering artificial light. PLoS ONE 9(5): e98631. Table 3. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0098631
Every value cites its sources (all sources). Data: catalogue-v1, built 2026-09-29. Accuracy notes: how accurate is this?