Danaus chrysippus
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 Plain tiger male
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| Danaus chrysippus (Linnaeus, 1758) |
The Plain Tiger is a common butterfly which is widespread in Asia. It belongs to the Danaid subfamily (Danainae, that is, Crows and Tigers) of the Nymphalidae Family, that is, the Brushfooted butterflies.
It is believed to be one of the first butterflies to be used in art. A 3500 year old Egyptian Fresco in present day Luxor has the oldest illustration of this species.
The Plain Tiger can be considered the archetypical Danaid of India. Accordingly, this species has been dealt with greater detail than other members of its subfamily in India.
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[edit] Description
The Plain Tiger( Danaus chrysippus) is a medium sized butterfly with a wingspan of about 7–8 cm. The body is black with many white spots. The wings are tawny the upper side being brighter and richer than the underside. The apical half of the fore wing is black with a white band. The hind wing has 3 black spots around the center. The hind wing has a thin border of black enclosing a series of semicircular white spots. See Sexual Dimorphism
[edit] Range
The range of the Plain Tiger extends from North Africa to Greece, China and Sulawesi. It is found throughout Sri Lanka, India and Myanmar.
[edit] Status
Very Common.
[edit] Habitat
It is found in every kind of country including the desert and right up into the mountains till 9000 feet. Primarily a butterfly of open country and gardens. Unlike the Common Tiger, its closely related species, is least common in damp, forested, hilly regions.
[edit] Habits
This butterfly is perhaps the commonest of Indian butterflies and is known to everyone. It flies from dawn to dusk, frequenting gardens, sipping from flowers and, late in the day, fluttering low over bushes to find a resting place for the night.
This butterfly rests with its wings closed. When basking it sits close to the ground and spreads its wings with its back to the sun so that the wings are fully exposed to the sun's rays.
[edit] Taxonomy
The butterfly is migratory and accordingly has no recognisable subspecies.
A closely related species, the Common Tiger, Danaus genutia, is also commonly found in India though it prefers closer and moister country than the Plain Tiger.
The Plain Tiger has two other forms, which occur very occasionally, as follows :-
- Form alcippoides : The upper hindwing is more or less very white. This is a very uncommon form.
- Form dorippus : The white spotted black apex on the forewing is absent. This is a rare form.
[edit] Sexual Dimorphism
- The male Plain Tiger is smaller than the female.
- In addition, the Danaid males have a number of secondary sexual characteristics. In the case of the Plain Tiger, these are :-
- The male has a pouch on the hindwing. This spot is white with a thick black border and bulges slightly. It is a cluster of specialised scent-scales used to attract females.
- The males possess two brush-like organs which can be pushed out of the tip of the abdomen.
- Difference between male and female
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| Male Up | Female Up |
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| Male Under | Female Under |
[edit] Protection
The Plain tiger is protected from attacks due to the unpalatable alkaloids ingested during the larval stages. The butterfly therefore flies slowly and leisurely, generally close to the ground and in a straight line. This gives a to be predator ample time to recognise and avoid attacking it. The inexperienced predator will try attacking it, but will learn soon enough to avoid this butterfly as the alkoloids in its body cause vomitting.
The butterfly also has a tough, leathery skin to survive such occasional attacks. When attacked it shams death and oozes nauseating liquid which makes it smell and taste terrible. This encourages the predator to release the butterfly quickly. The butterfly thus has the ability to recover 'miraculously' after the predator thinks it has been killed.
[edit] Mimicry
The protection mechanisms of the Plain Tiger, as of the other Danaids, and indeed of all unpalatable butterflies, result in predators learning this memorable aspect at first hand. Predators soon learn to associate the patterns and habits of the butterfly species with unpalatability and to avoid ingesting them in future.
This advantage of protection has led to a number of edible butterfly species, referred to as the mimic, evolving to resemble the inedible butterfly, which is referred to as the model. The resemblance is not only in butterfly markings, but also in behavioural and flight patterns. This form of mimicry where an edible species mimics an inedible species is known as Batesian Mimicry.
The mimics can resemble the models very closely. In some cases, it requires hand examination and reference to field guides to tell them apart. The Plain Tiger is a good example, being mimicked by the following butterflies :-
- The Indian Fritillary female, Argyreus hyperbius.
- The Danaid Eggfly female, Hypolimnas missippus, female form inaria.
The following butterflies have a general resemblance common to, both, the Plain Tiger and the Common Tiger Danais genutia:-
- The Common Palmfly female, Elymnias hypermnestra.
- The Tamil Lacewing male and female, Cethosia nietneri mahratta.
- The Leopard Lacewing male and female, Cethosia cyane.
[edit] Life Cycle
It breeds throughout the year in India, except in the Himalayas where it is seasonal.
[edit] Egg
The female Plain tiger perches on the upperside of a leaf and curling its abdomen around the edge, lays an egg on the underside. Only one egg is laid per leaf to avoid overcrowding of the caterpillars. The egg is silvery white, shiny, tall, bullet shaped with an apical point and ribbed sides.
[edit] Caterpillar
After the caterpillar hatches, its first meal is the eggshell itself. It lives its entire larval life on the lower side of the leaves. During the first few days it has a very interesting manner of feeding. It will take up a spot on the underside of the leaf and nip a complete circle around itself in the lower cuticle of the leaf. By doing this it stops the poisonous sap of its host plant from flowing into the area inside the circle. It then proceeds to eats the lower surface of this area, leaving the upper cuticle intact.
As it grows, it eats both the lower and upper cuticle of the circle thus leaving smallish circular holes in the leaves of its host plant. When its mandibles are large enough it eats the complete leaf by gnawing at the edges.
The caterpillar is uniformly cylindrical. Its body is covered with bands of black and white interspersed with thick, yellow, dorsolateral spots. The most striking characteristics are the 3 pairs of long and black tentacles. The first pair is moveable and also the longest. The tentacles are present on the 3rd, 6th and 12th segments. The head is shiny, smooth and has alternating black and white semicircular bands. The legs and prolegs are black and the prolegs have white bands at their bases.
[edit] Pupa
The pupa hangs freely from the support. It is widest at the 7th abdominal segment where it has a double chain of extremely tiny golden and black beads. There are tiny golden spots on the shoulders and wing-cases. The rest of the pupa is pale green with a smooth surface. The pupa is light pink when formed among dry or unnatural objects.
[edit] Larval food plants
The Plain tiger's larval host plants are "milkweed" plants, Family Asclepiadaceae. These are :-
- Calotropis gigantea.
- Asclepias curassavica.
- Cryptolepis buchnani.
[edit] References
- Evans, W.H. (1932) The Identification of Indian Butterflies. (2nd Ed), Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai, India
- Gaonkar, Harish (1996) Butterflies of the Western Ghats, India (including Sri Lanka) - A Biodiversity Assessment of a threatened mountain system. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society.
- Gay,Thomas; Kehimkar,Isaac & Punetha,J.C.(1992) Common Butterflies of India. WWF-India and Oxford University Press, Mumbai, India.
- Kunte,Krushnamegh (2005) Butterflies of Peninsular India. Universities Press.
- Wynter-Blyth, M.A. (1957) Butterflies of the Indian Region, Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai, India.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
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