Its a beautiful Monarch, a similar species called a Viceroy would have a different back vein type pattern near the bottom portion of the wings. See my image from a few years ago to compare.
Top: Monarch - Milkweed Butterfly
Bottom: Viceroy - Brushfoots family of butterflies
The term mimicry is commonly applied to the resemblance of one insect (called the mimic) to another (called the model) so that a third insect or other observer is deceived into confusing the two.The Viceroy Butterfly belongs to an entirely different family of butterflies but resembles the Monarch so closely in color, shape and markings that it serves as a classical example of mimicry in nature. Both species are distasteful to predators.
