Danaus genutia
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 Common Tiger Danaus genutia
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| Danaus genutia Cramer, 1779 |
The Common Tiger (Danaus genutia) is one of the common butterflies of India. It belongs to the "Crows and Tigers", that is, the danainae group of the Brush-footed butterflies family. The butterfly is also called Striped Tiger in India to differentiate it from the equally common Plain Tiger Danaus chrysippus.[1]
Description
The butterfly closely resembles the Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) of the Americas.
The wingspan is 75 to 95 mm. Both sexes of the butterfly have tawny wings with veins marked with broad black bands. The female has a pouch on the hindwing. [2] The margins of the wings are black with two rows of white spots. The underside of the wings resembles the the upperside but is paler in colouration. The male Common Tiger has a prominent black-and-white spot on the underside of the hindwing.[1]
In drier regions the tawny part of the hindwing pales and approaches white in colour making it very similar to the White Tiger Danaus melanippus (Cramer).[2]
Taxonomy
It has some 16 subspecies; its evolutionary relationships are not completely resolved, but it appears to be closest to the Malay Tiger and White Tiger (Smith et al. 2005).
Status
Fairly common. Locally very common.[2]
Distribution
The butterfly is distributed throughout India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and extending to South East Asia and Australia (except New Guinea).[1]
Habitat
The butterfly occurs in scrub jungles, fallowland adjacent to habitation, dry and moist deciduous forests, preferring areas of moderate to heavy rainfall. Also occurs in degraded hill slopes and ridges, both, bare or denuded, and, those covered with secondary growth.[1]
Habits
While the butterfly is a strong flier, it never flies rapidly or high. It has stronger and faster strokes than the Plain Tiger. The butterfly ranges forth in search of its host and nectar plants. It visits gardens where it nectars on the flowers of Lantana, Celosia, Adelocaryum, Cosmos, Zinnia and other garden plants.[1]
Members of this genus are leathery, tough to kill and sham death. Since they are unpleasant to smell and taste, they are soon released by the predators, recover and fly off soon thereafter.
Aposematism
The butterfly sequesters toxins from its foodplants of the family Asclepiadaceae. The butterflies also congregate with other danaiines to sip from the sap of Crotolaria, Heliotropium and other plants which provide the pyrrrolizidine alkaloids which they sequester.[1] A study in Northeastern India showed a preference to foraging on Crotalaria juncea compared to Nerium oleander, Barleria cristata rosea and Bauhinia purpurea (Bhuyan et al. 2005).
To advertise their unpalatability, the butterfly has prominent markings with an unmistakeable colour-combination.
Mimicry
The striped Tiger is mimicked by the Tamil Lacewing Cethosia nietneri, the Leopard Lacewing Cethosia cyane and the Common Palmfly Elymnias hypermnestra.[3]
Life history
 Egg |
 Caterpillar |
 Pupa |
 Adult Upperside |
 Adult Male Underside |
Food plants
The caterpillar of the Common Tiger butterfly obtains a supply of poison by eating poisonous plants, which makes the caterpillar and butterfly a distasteful morsel for predators. The most common foodplants of the Common Tiger in Peninsular India are small herbs, twiners and creepers from the family Asclepiadaceae -
- Asclepias curassavica.[1]
- Ceropegia intermedia.[1][2]
- Stephanotis spp.[1]
- Tylophora tenuis.[1]
- Cynanchum dalhousieae.[2]
- Stephanotis (floribunda ?).[2]
- Raphistemma pulchellum.[2]
Eggs
The butterfly lays its egg singly under the leaves of any of its hostplants of family Asclepiadaceae.[1]
Caterpillar
The caterpillar is black and marked with bluish-white and yellow spots and lines. The caterpillar has three pairs of tentacles on its body. It first eats the eggshell and then proceeds to eat leaves and vegetative parts of the plant.[1]
Chrysalis
The chrysalis or pupa is green and marked with golden yellow spots.[1]
Cited references
References
- Bhuyan, M.; Deka, M.; Kataki, D. & Bhattacharyya, P. R. (2005): Nectar host plant selection and floral probing by the Indian butterfly Danaus genutia (Nymphalidae). Journal of Research on the Lepidoptera 38: 79-84. PDF fulltext
- Evans, W.H. (1932) The Identification of Indian Butterflies. (2nd Ed), Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai, India.
- Kunte, Krushnamegh (2000) Butterflies of Peninsular India, Universities Press (India) Ltd, Hyderabad (reprint 2006). ISBN 81-7371-354-5
- Smith, David A. S.; Lushai, Gugs & Allen, John A. (2005): A classification of Danaus butterflies (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) based upon data from morphology and DNA. Zool. J. Linn. Soc. 144(2): 191–212. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2005.00169.x (HTML abstract)
See also
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