Evolution

There have been recent studies finding that  in the past 200 years, Monarchs have traveled past their ancestral range. They have been found outside of North America and throughout the Pacific and Atlantic ocean. Out of these long-distance travels, there have been several non-migratory Monarch populations found on many remote islands. This means that some time in the past, these Monarchs have stayed on these islands and decided not to migrate anymore. A recent study and breakthrough in the population genetics of Monarchs has found that early migratory Monarchs are equipped with longer, larger wings than that of their non-migratory family members because natural selection favors the loss of dispersal ability. There is a pattern that was noticed, and this pattern repeated itself in the past 200 years. Migratory Monarch butterflies have consistently expanded their range through the spreading of larger-winged trait, only to see a reduction in wing size due to migration loss over the next 1,000 generations because there are more non-migratory populations appearing and less migratory populations. The observed levels of divergence among phenotypes measured in North American and Pacific populations can be explained by genetic drift alone.

There have also been small populations of Monarchs with white and black wings instead of orange in Hawaii, this is one visual example of the genetic power these Monarchs have over their future populations.