I’ve seen a good number of monarch butterflies so far this summer, but no monarch caterpillars yet. Here we see a female on sumac blossoms yesterday.

(Irrelevant question of the day: Should we call female monarchs queens and the males kings?) Not so irrelevant question of the day: Is there an easy way to differentiate male and female monarchs? Answer: Yes. Males have a small, dark bump on each of their hindwings. These two “androconal patches” contain pheromones that attract females. Here are some of our archive images of male monarch butterflies that show their patches:

To help remember the difference between sexes, think of the males’ patches as symbolic testicles. (Primary image taken in Brooklin, Maine, on July 16, 2022.)

In the Right Place: Of Patches and Kings