Danaus (genus)

Danaus
Male Danaus chrysippus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Nymphalidae
Subfamily: Danainae
Tribe: Danaini
Genus: Danaus
Kluk, 1802
Type species
Danaus plexippus
(Linnaeus, 1758)
Species
  • 12-13 species. See text.
Plain Tiger Danaus chrysippus caterpillar on a Calotropis (Milkweed) species in Hyderabad, India

Danaus, commonly called Tigers, Milkweeds, Monarchs, and Queens, is a genus of butterflies in the tiger butterfly tribe. They are found worldwide, including North America, South America, Africa, Asia, Indonesia and Australia. For other Tigers see the genus, Parantica.

Taxonomy

Following the review of Smith et al. (2005), 12 species are provisionally accepted based on morphological, mtDNA 12S rRNA and cytochrome c oxidase subunit I, and nuclear DNA 18S rRNA and EF1 subunit α sequence data:

This genus was formerly split into the subgenera Danaus, Salatura, and Anosia, but this arrangement has been abolished. While the first (the 2–3 monarch butterflies) and Salatura (species ismare, genutia, affinis and melanippus) do indeed seem to be clades, the relationship of these to the other species, especially the puzzling D. dorippus, is not clear.

Hybridization producing fertile offspring is known to occur between some species, confounding mtDNA data; this seems to be especially true in the case of D. dorippus (Smith et al. 2005). In addition, male-killing Spiroplasma infection has been shown in D. chrysippus and probably also occurs in other species (Jiggins et al. 2000); the consequences for speciation and evolution are probably similar to those observed in infection with male-killing strains of the better-researched Wolbachia bacteria.

Phylogeny


Tirumala septentrionis



Tirumala limniace





Danaus plexippus



Danaus erippus






Danaus genutia




Danaus melanippus



Danaus affinis





Danaus ismare





Danaus eresimus



Danaus gilippus





Danaus petilia





Danaus dorippus dorippus-2



Danaus d. bataviana





Danaus chrysippus chrysippus



Danaus c. orientis



Danaus c. alcippus






Danaus d. dorippus-1



Phylogeny of the genus (without D. cleophile).[1]

Synonyms of Danaus species and subspecies

Tribe Danaini Boisduval, 1833

References

References

  1. Smith, David A.; Gugs Lushai and John A. Allen (June 2005). "A classification of Danaus butterflies (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) based upon data from morphology and DNA" (PDF). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 144 (2): 191–212. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2005.00169.x. Retrieved 2008-05-19.
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