Danaus melanippus

Black veined tiger
Topside of D. m. hegesippus
Underside of D. m. edmondii
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Nymphalidae
Genus: Danaus
Species:
D. melanippus
Binomial name
Danaus melanippus
(Cramer, [1777])
Subspecies

See text

Danaus melanippus, the black veined tiger, white tiger, common tiger, or eastern common tiger, is a butterfly species found in tropical Asia which belongs to the "crows and tigers", that is, the danaine group of the brush-footed butterflies family.

It ranges from Assam in eastern India through South-East Asia south to Indonesia, and eastwards to the Philippines and through southern China to Taiwan.[1][2] It has around 17 subspecies, and its closest relative is the Malay tiger, Danaus affinis.[2]

Subspecies

Listed alphabetically:[3]

  • D. m. celebensis (Staudinger, 1889) – northern Sulawesi
  • D. m. edmondii (Bougainville, 1837) – Philippines
  • D. m. edwardi (van Eecke, 1914) – Simeulue
  • D. m. eurydice (Butler, 1884) – Nias
  • D. m. haruhasa Doherty, 1891 – Sumbawa - Alor
  • D. m. hegesippus (Cramer, [1777]) – Peninsular Malaya, Langkawi, Singapore, Sumatra, Bangka, Belitung
  • D. m. indicus (Fruhstorfer, 1899) – eastern India - Thailand, Indo-China
  • D. m. keteus (Hagen, 1898) – Mentawai
  • D. m. kotoshonis Matsumura, 1929 – Taiwan
  • D. m. lotina (Fruhstorfer, 1904) – Natuna Island
  • D. m. lotis (Cramer, [1779])
  • D. m. melanippus (Cramer, [1777]) – Java
  • D. m. meridionigra Martin, [1914] – central Sulawesi
  • D. m. nesippus (Felder, 1862) – Nicobars
  • D. m. pietersi (Doherty, 1891) – Enggano
  • D. m. umbrosus Fruhstorfer, 1906 – Pualu Tello

See also

References

  1. ^ Evans, W.H. (1932). The Identification of Indian Butterflies (2nd ed.). Mumbai, India: Bombay Natural History Society.
  2. ^ a b 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)
  3. ^ "Danaus Kluk, 1780" at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms