Viceroy Butterfly (Limenitis archippus)

For a century the Viceroy was the textbook case of Batesian mimicry: a harmless butterfly copying a toxic one and getting protection for free. Then it turned out the Viceroy is unpalatable in its own right. Both species are distasteful, both wear the same warning, and each reinforces the other - Mullerian mimicry rather than Batesian, and a rather different story about how the pattern came to be.

The single black line crossing the hindwings is what separates it from the Monarch in the field. It is widespread across the United States and southern Canada, wherever willows and poplars grow for the caterpillars to feed on, and flies low and fast over meadows, lake edges and wetlands.

It does not migrate. Where the Monarch leaves, the Viceroy overwinters as a caterpillar, rolled into a leaf bound with silk and fastened to the twig so it cannot fall.

A vector illustration of the Viceroy in dorsal view, drawn for the Bugs series of insect art prints.

Bugs is a collection of natural history illustration prints drawn from the insect world - beetles, flies, bugs, butterflies, and moths selected for the strangeness, beauty, and variety of their forms.

Each illustration is adapted from Simon Tyler's book Bugs, published by Pavilion in 2017 and subsequently published in French and Chinese. The series draws on the tradition of scientific natural history illustration - precise, considered, and attentive to the details that make each species distinctive.

Insects account for the majority of all known animal species on Earth. This collection is a small survey of what that diversity looks like.

All prints are produced to order on 250gsm archival matte paper using pigment-based inks, chosen for colour accuracy and long-term stability.

Each print is rolled in acid-free tissue and shipped in a rigid cardboard tube, sealed for moisture protection, ready for framing on arrival.

Large · 70 × 50 cm · 28 × 20 in

XLarge · 100 × 70 cm · 40 × 28 in

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Rest of World: £14.95 · 7-14 working days

All prints are produced to order and dispatched within 1-3 working days. Orders placed before 5pm GMT ship the same day. You'll receive tracking information by email once dispatched.

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Returns accepted within 30 days. Email returns@axisophy.com with your order number and we'll provide return instructions.

Return postage is the customer's responsibility except where the print arrives damaged or there's been an error - in which case we'll arrange a replacement or refund immediately, no return needed.

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