The monarchs continue being very active in the garden today. I am seeing males and females. Females laying eggs on scarlet milkweed and males enjoying the nectar on the Jatropha. I thought I would post a picture that helps compare males to females and how to identify the sex. It's easy to identify looking at the dorsal side.The males have the swollen pouches on the hindwings and thin veining. The females have no hindwing pouches and thick veining.
The Monarchs ventral side is much harder to sex and not the recommended approach. A trained eye can sometimes see the hindwing male pouch through to the ventral side. I have pointed it out here. You can see the female does not have this outward pouching to the vein.
