Danaus genutia

Danaus genutia, the common tiger,[1][2] 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.[3] The species was first described by Pieter Cramer in 1779.

Common tiger
Upperside
Male, underside
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Nymphalidae
Genus: Danaus
Species:
D. genutia
Binomial name
Danaus genutia
(Cramer, [1779])
Synonyms
  • Papilio genutia Cramer, [1779]
  • Danaus adnana Swinhoe, 1917
  • Danaus plexippus plexippus f. albipars Talbot, 1943
  • Danaus bandjira Martin, 1911
  • Danaus bimana Martin, 1911
  • Danaida plexippus plexippus f. grynion Fruhstorfer, 1907
  • Danaus nipalensis Moore, 1877
  • Danaus sumbana Talbot, 1943
  • Danaus tuak Pryer & Cator, 1894
  • Danaus uniens Martin, 1911
  • Salatura intermedia Moore, 1883
  • Salatura intensa Moore, 1883
  • Salatura laratensis Butler, 1883
  • Danaida alexis Waterhouse & Lyell, 1914

Description

The butterfly closely resembles the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) of the Americas. The wingspan is 7 to 95 millimetres (0.28 to 3.74 in). Both sexes of the butterfly have tawny wings with veins marked with broad black bands. The male has a pouch on the hindwing.[4][5][6] The margins of the wings are black with two rows of white spots. The underside of the wings resembles the upperside but is paler in colouration. The male common tiger has a prominent black-and-white spot on the underside of the hindwing.[3] In drier regions the tawny part of the hindwing pales and approaches white in colour making it very similar to the white tiger (D. melanippus).[6]

Distribution and ecology

D. genutia is distributed throughout India,[1] Sri Lanka, Myanmar and extending to South-East Asia and Australia (except New Guinea).[2][3] At least in the South Asian part of its range it is fairly common, locally very common.[6]

This 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.[3]

While it 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 Adelocaryum, Cosmos, Celosia, Lantana, Zinnia, and similar flowers.[3]

Defence against predators, mimicry

Members of this genus are leathery, tough to kill and fake death. Since they are unpleasant to smell and taste, they are soon released by the predators, recover and fly off soon thereafter. The butterfly sequesters toxins from plants of the family Asclepiadaceae. The butterflies also congregate with other danaiines to sip from the sap of Crotalaria, Heliotropium and other plants which provide the pyrrolizidine alkaloids which they sequester.[3] A study in north-eastern India showed a preference to foraging on Crotalaria juncea compared to Bauhinia purpurea, Barleria cristata rosea and Nerium oleander.[7] To advertise their unpalatability, the butterfly has prominent markings with a striking colour pattern. The striped tiger is mimicked by both sexes of the Indian Tamil lacewing (Cethosia nietneri mahratta) and the leopard lacewing (Cethosia cyane) and females of the common palmfly (Elymnias hypermnestra).[8]

Life history

This butterfly lays its egg singly under the leaves of any of its host plants of family Asclepiadaceae. The caterpillar is black and marked with bluish-white and yellow spots and lines. It 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. The chrysalis (pupa) is green and marked with golden-yellow spots.[3]

  • Pairing in Bihar, India
  • Egg
  • Caterpillar
  • Pupa
  • Female in Kerala
  • Male in Chiang Mai

Food plants

The caterpillar of the common tiger butterfly obtains a supply of poison by eating poisonous plants, which make the caterpillar and butterfly a distasteful morsel for predators. The most common food plants of the common tiger in peninsular India are small herbs, twiners and creepers from the family Asclepiadaceae, including:

Subspecies

It has some 16 subspecies; its evolutionary relationships are not completely resolved, but it appears to be closest to the Malay tiger (D. affinis) and white tiger.[10]

  • D. g. genutia (India to China, Sri Lanka, Andamans, Nicobars, Peninsular Malaya, Thailand, Langkawi, Singapore, Indochina, Taiwan, Hainan)
  • D. g. sumatrana Moore, 1883 (western and north-eastern Sumatra)
  • D. g. intermedia (Moore, 1883)
  • D. g. conspicua Butler, 1866 (southern Sulawesi)
  • D. g. niasicus Fruhstorfer, 1899 (Nias)
  • D. g. intensa (Moore, 1883) (Java, Bali, Bawean, Borneo)
  • D. g. partita (Fruhstorfer, 1897) (Lesser Sunda)
  • D. g. leucoglene C. & R. Felder, 1865 (northern Sulawesi)
  • D. g. tychius Fruhstorfer, 1910 (Selajar)
  • D. g. telmissus Fruhstorfer, 1910 (Butong Island)
  • D. g. wetterensis (Fruhstorfer, 1899) (Wetar Island, Timor)
  • D. g. laratensis (Butler, 1883) (Tanimbar Island)
  • D. g. kyllene Fruhstorfer, 1910 (Damar Island, Kai Island)
  • D. g. alexis (Waterhouse & Lyell, 1914) (Northern Territory to north-western Australia)

See also

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.). Mumbai, India: Bombay Natural History Society..
  • Kunte, Krushnamegh (2000). Butterflies of Peninsular India. India, A Lifescape. Hyderabad, India: Universities Press. ISBN 978-8173713545.
  • 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)
  • Wynter-Blyth, Mark Alexander (1957). Butterflies of the Indian Region. Bombay, India: Bombay Natural History Society. ISBN 978-8170192329.

Footnotes
  1. Varshney, R.K.; Smetacek, Peter (2015). A Synoptic Catalogue of the Butterflies of India. New Delhi: Butterfly Research Centre, Bhimtal & Indinov Publishing, New Delhi. p. 149. doi:10.13140/RG.2.1.3966.2164. ISBN 978-81-929826-4-9.
  2. Savela, Markku. "Danaus genutia (Cramer, [1779])". Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms. Retrieved July 1, 2018.
  3. Kunte (2000): 45, pp. 148-149.
  4. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a work now in the public domain: Bingham, Charles Thomas (1907). Fauna of British India. Butterflies Vol. 2. Taylor & Francis. pp. 10–11.
  5. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a work now in the public domain: Moore, Frederic (1890–1892). Lepidoptera Indica. Vol. I. London: Lovell Reeve and Co. pp. 45–48.
  6. Wynter-Blyth (1957): p. 69.
  7. Bhuyan et al. (2005)
  8. Wynter-Blyth (1957): p. 56.
  9. Wynter-Blyth (1957): p. 493.
  10. Smith et al. (2005)
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