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Nature

How wide is a monarch butterfly?

An adult monarch butterfly has a wingspan of about 9.5 cm (3.74 in).

What is measured: adult wingspan

Monarch butterfly (9.5 cm) drawn to scale beside a large coin (2.4 cm) and a smartphone (14.7 cm)
Drawn to scale, from left to right: Large coin (2.4 cm), Monarch butterfly (9.5 cm) and Smartphone (14.7 cm).

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How big is that, really?

  • About the length of a credit card
  • As wide as about 4 large coins side by side
  • About 65% of the height of a smartphone
  • About 25% of the height of a bowling pin
  • About 14× the length of a grain of rice

Learn

Facts about Monarch butterfly

Some monarch butterflies migrate thousands of kilometers, traveling between North America and overwintering sites in Mexico.

Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, “Monarch Butterfly”; National Geographic, “Monarch Butterfly”

Nature

NameSizeCompared with Monarch butterfly
Bee hummingbird5.5 cm (2.17 in)0.58×
Monarch butterfly9.5 cm (3.74 in)this page
Luna moth11.5 cm (4.53 in)1.2×
Venus flytrap15 cm (5.91 in)1.6×
Pygmy marmoset15 cm (5.91 in)1.6×
Common blue morpho15 cm (5.91 in)1.6×
Peacock mantis shrimp18 cm (7.09 in)1.9×
Fennec fox20 cm (7.87 in)2.1×
Axolotl23 cm (9.06 in)2.4×
Atlas moth24 cm (9.45 in)2.5×

Test your sense of scale

Which is bigger: Monarch butterfly or Luna moth?

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