Blue Tiger

November 24, 2009 at 11:43 am (Butterflies)
Tags: blue tiger, Butterflies, butterfly, Danaid, Danaus, Milkweed butterflies, Nymphalidae, Tirumala limniace

Tirumala limniace

The Blue Tiger (Tirumala limniace) is a butterfly found in India that belongs to the Crows and Tigers, that is, the Danaid group of the Brush-footed butterflies family. This butterfly shows gregarious migratory behaviour in southern India.

Description

Upperside black, with bluish-white semihyaline spots and streaks. Fore wing: interspace 1 two streaks, sometimes coalescent, with a spot beyond cell: a streak from base and an outwardly indented spot at its apex; a large oval spot at base of interspace 2, another at base of interspace 3, with a smaller spot beyond it towards termen; five obliquely placed preapical streaks, and somewhat irregular subterminal and terminal series of spots, the latter the smaller. Hind wing: interspaces 1b, 1a, and 1 with streaks from base, double in the latter two, cell with a forked broad streak, the lower branch with a hook, or spur-like slender loop, at base of 4 and 5 a broad elongate streak, and at base of 6 a quadrate spot; beyond these again a number of scattered unequal subterminal and terminal spots.

Underside: basal two-thirds of fore wing dusky black, the apex and hind wing olive-brown; the spots and streaks much as on the upperside, Antennae, head and thorax black, the latter two spotted and streaked with, white; abdomen dusky above, ochraceous spotted with white beneath. Male secondary sex-mark in form

Food-plants

Asclepias

Calotropis

Heterostemma

Marsdenia

Dregea volubilis

Heterostemma cuspidatum

Hoya viridiflora

Marsdenia tenacissima

Crotalaria spp.

Epibaterium spp.

Soya

Larva

Yellowish white; 3rd and 12th segments, each with a pair of fleshy filaments, black and greenish white; each of the segments with four transverse black bars, the second bar on all broader than the others, bifurcated laterally, a yellow longitudinal line on each side; head, feet and claspers spotted with black

Pupa

“Green with golden scattered spots and beaded dorsal crescent”

Range

South Asia and Southeast Asia.

Habit

This species migrates extensively during the Monsoons in southern India. The migratory populations have been observed to be nearly entirely consisting of males

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Plain Tiger

November 20, 2009 at 5:46 pm (Butterflies)
Tags: African Monarch, Butterflies, butterfly, chrysippus, Danainae, Danaus, Danaus chrysippus, milkweed, Milkweed butterflies, Plain Tiger

“Danaus chrysippus”

The Plain Tiger (Danaus chrysippus) or outside Asia, African Monarch, is a common butterfly which is widespread in Asia and Africa. It belongs to the Danainae (“Milkweed butterflies”) subfamily of the brush-footed butterfly family, Nymphalidae.

It is believed to be one of the first butterflies to be used in art. A 3500 year old Egyptian fresco in Luxor features the oldest illustration of this species.

The Plain Tiger can be considered the archetypical danaine of India. Accordingly, this species has been studied with in greater detail than other members of its subfamily occurring in India.

Distribution

The range of the Plain Tiger extends from Africa and southern Europe, eastwards via Sri Lanka, India, and Myanmar to China and Sulawesi. It is a very common species

Common Crow

November 20, 2009 at 12:51 pm (Butterflies)
Tags: Butterflies, butterfly, Common Crow, Danaus, Euploea core, Milkweed butterflies, Nymphalidae

Euploea core

The Common Crow (Euploea core) is a common butterfly found in South Asia. In India it is also sometimes referred to as the Common Indian Crow, and in Australia as the Australian Crow. It belongs to the Crows and Tigers subfamily of the Nymphalidae (Brushfooted butterflies).

The Common Crow is the most common representative of its genus Euploea . Like the Tigers (Danaus spp), the Crows are inedible and thus mimicked by other Indian butterflies.

Description

The Common Crow (Euploea core) is a glossy black butterfly with brown underside with white marks along the outer margins of the wing. The wingspan is about 8-9 cm and the body also has prominent white spots.

Range

It is found in Sri Lanka, India, Myanmar and Australia.

Status

Very common

Habitat

It is found everywhere in India right up into the mountains till 8000 feet. Occasionally it swarms in the low, wet, jungles of South India due to the abundance of its foodplants which are spread over three orders of plants.

Habits

The butterfly, being protected by its inedibility, has a leisurely flight. It is often seen flying about shrubs and bushes in search of its host plants. It visits a large variety of flowering plant species.
On hot days large numbers of these butterflies can be seen mud-puddling on wet sand. This butterfly also gathers on damaged parts of plants such as Crotalaria, Heliotropium to forage for chemicals precursors to produce pheromones.

Along with other Danaids such as the Tigers, the Common Crow is one of the most common migrating butterfly species

Protection

The Common Crow is distasteful due to chemicals extracted from the latex of the food plants consumed in their caterpillar stage. Thus protected, they fly in a leisurely manner, gliding skillfully with wings held slightly above the horizontal. This indicates its protection due to inedibility to a predator. The inexperienced predator will try attacking it, but will learn soon enough to avoid this butterfly as the alkaloids in its body cause vomiting.

The butterfly has tough, leathery wings. When attacked it shams death and oozes liquid which causes any predators to release them. The butterfly thus has the ability to recover ‘miraculously’ after the predator thinks it has been killed.