| Summary: | Some taxa have adopted the strategy of mimicry to protect themselves from predation. Butterflies are some of the best representatives used to study mimicry, with the monarch butterfly, <i>Danaus plexippus</i> (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) a well-known model. We are the first to empirically investigate a proposed mimic of the monarch butterfly: <i>Neophasia terlooii</i>, the Mexican pine white butterfly (Lepidoptera: Pieridae). We used captive birds to assess the palatability of <i>N. terlooii</i> and its sister species, <i>N. menapia</i>, to determine the mimicry category that would best fit this system. The birds readily consumed both species of <i>Neophasia</i> and a palatable control species but refused to eat unpalatable butterflies such as <i>D. plexippus</i> and <i>Heliconius charithonia</i> (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Given some evidence for mild unpalatability of <i>Neophasia</i>, we discuss the results considering modifications to classic mimicry theory, i.e., a palatability-based continuum between Batesian and Müllerian mimicry, with a quasi-Batesian intermediate. Understanding the ecology of <i>Neophasia</i> in light of contemporary and historical sympatry with <i>D. plexippus</i> could shed light on the biogeography of, evolution of, and predation pressure on the monarch butterfly, whose migration event has become a conservation priority.
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