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White Monarch Butterfly

Nivosus

Description:

We saw these bluish-white butterflies while trekking somewhere in Quezon, Philippines. There were some 4-5 of them flying around us. Good thing I had my handy iPhone to take a picture of it.

Habitat:


1 species ID suggestions

AliceGreenup
AliceGreenup 10 months ago
Monarch butterfly
Danaus plexippus Monarch butterfly

8 Comments

Cammie
Cammie 8 months ago

This is amazing!!! What an awesome find! And thank you gatorfellows for posting the article. I have never heard of this phenomenon!

gatorfellows
gatorfellows 10 months ago

Here is an extensive article about the "why" of the color change;
http://www.monarchwatch.org/read/article...

LuckyLogan
LuckyLogan 10 months ago

Very cool!

EdanadE
EdanadE 10 months ago

OMG, wow! Okay, will do. :D

keithp2012
keithp2012 10 months ago

Could you please add this to rare color morphs mission and monarch migration, this is a Very rare find and certainly special!

AliceGreenup
AliceGreenup 10 months ago

It is a monarch, read this, taken from wikipedia "A color variation has been observed in Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia and the United States as early as the late 19th century. Named nivosus by Lepidopterists, it is grayish white in all areas of the wings that are normally orange. Generally it is only about 1% or less of all monarchs, but has maintained populations as high as 10% on Oahu in Hawaii, possibly due to selective predation"

EdanadE
EdanadE 10 months ago

I looked that up & yes, I suppose it is! Looked the same as the search results~ 😊

keithp2012
keithp2012 10 months ago

That almost looks like a white monarch butterfly

Quezon, Philippines

Lat: 14.22, Long: 121.71

Spotted on Aug 18, 2012
Submitted on Aug 18, 2012

Reference

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Monarch Butterfly (male) Monarch Butterfly (female) Monarch Butterfly Wanderer or Monarch Butterfly

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