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Text and photographs protected by Copyright © Adrian Hoskins 2007, and must not be published in part or in whole elsewhere without prior written permission from the author.
Butterflies of Malaysia and Borneo
 
Common Tiger
Danaus genutia CRAMER, 1779
Family - NYMPHALIDAE
subfamily - DANAINAE
Tribe - DANAINI
 
 introduction | habitats | lifecycle | adult behaviour
 
Danaus genutia genutia, female on Lantana, Tapah Hills, West Malaysia
 
Introduction
 
The subfamily Danainae, which includes the Monarchs & Tigers, Nymphs and Crows, comprises of about 190 species worldwide.
 
The Monarchs and Tigers belong to the genus Danaus. They are all large butterflies, characterised by having orange wings with black veins, a white subapical band, and a double row of white spots around the margins of the hindwings.
 
All butterflies in this subfamily are thought to be toxic or distasteful to avian predators, their bodies containing toxins derived from the larval foodplants, and often supplemented by further toxins derived from adult food sources.
 
The bright colours of the butterflies "advertise" their poisonous qualities to birds, in much the same way that the bands of yellow and black of wasps advertise the fact that they can sting. Consequently any bird that suffers the unpleasant experience of eating a Danaus is unlikely to attack any similarly coloured butterfly. Effectively, a few individuals are sacrificed for the good of the species as a whole.
 
In some parts of the world, particularly in the neotropics, many unrelated species from the Ithomiinae, Heliconiinae, Nymphalinae, Papilionidae and Pieridae "mimic" the colours and markings of tiger-patterned Danaines, and thus escape the attention of predators.
If the mimics are edible species, they are referred to as Batesian mimics, while those mimics that are themselves unpalatable are known as Müllerian mimics.
 
There are 4 Danaus species found in Malaysia - genutia, chrysippus, melanippus and affinis, the main differences between them being in the intensity of the black markings, and in the extent of the white markings on the hindwings.
 
Danaus genutia occurs in Sri Lanka, India, Burma, Thailand, China, Malaysia, Borneo, Sumatra, Java, New Guinea and the north-eastern region of Australia.
 
Habitats
 
This is a lowland species occurring in disturbed forest edge habitats at elevations between sea level and about 500m.
 
Lifecycle
 
The eggs are laid singly on Raphistemma.
 
The caterpillar is bluish white, heavily banded in black, and marked with yellow spots. Long filaments project from the 2nd, 8th and 11th segments, and these are possibly used to disseminate pheromones that may function to ward off predators or parasitoids.
 
The chrysalis is plump, rounded, smooth, and pale green in colour, marked with black dots and flecks of gold and silver. It is suspended by the cremaster from a stem, away from the foodplant.
 
Adult behaviour

 

The butterflies are usually encountered singly or in two's and three's.

 

They have a slow undulating flight, with fairly shallow wing beats, and patrol flowery areas, circling about around the tops of flowering bushes. Both sexes alight periodically to nectar at flowers, showing a strong preference for Lantana, feeding with their wings held half open or closed.

 

Late in the afternoon, particularly if it becomes cloudy, they commonly bask with wings outspread on bushes.

 

In overcast or rainy weather they hang suspended from twigs in sheltered forest edge habitats, sometimes in groups of up to half a dozen individuals.

 
                                                        
In common with most other butterflies in Malaysia, Borneo and Palawan, the habitats of this species are severely endangered. Rainforest only remains on the steepest mountain-sides, and at a small number of nature reserves. Many of the reserves are now threatened with reclassification and subsequent exploitation at the hands of major international companies.
 
Tragically, the huge areas of tropical rainforest which once covered the lowlands of West Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak have been almost entirely cleared, with only a few "islands" of original forest remaining, surrounded by vast oil palm plantations.
 
The forests of Kalimantan ( the Indonesian sector of Borneo ) have suffered a similar fate, and what little remains is now under severe threat,
as the protected status of nature reserves is being revoked to make way for concession areas that will be subjected to open cast coal mines, logging, and clearance for immense oil palm plantations to satisfy the demand for bio-diesel fuel.
 
The extent of the devastation is immense, and the consequences catastrophic, not only for butterflies, but also for orang-utans, proboscis monkeys, hornbills, and myriads of other mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and insects - our natural heritage is being annihilated.
 
You can help prevent further devastation - please lobby your governments, and contact the rainforest conservation organisations who organise on-line petitions and use scientific evidence to apply pressure to the governments of Malaysia and Indonesia to halt the devastation.
 
 
Text and photographs protected by Copyright © Adrian Hoskins 2007-2008, and must not be reproduced or published in part or in whole elsewhere in any form without written permission from Adrian Hoskins. Breach of copyright will be pursued by litigation.
 
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