''Danaus'', commonly called tigers, milkweeds, monarchs, wanderers, and queens, is a
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
of
butterflies
Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...
in the
tiger butterfly tribe
The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English language, English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in p ...
. They are found worldwide, including North America,
South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...
,
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
,
Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...
,
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
and
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
. For other tigers see the genus, ''
Parantica
''Parantica'', commonly called tigers, is an Old World genus of butterflies in subfamily Danainae of family Nymphalidae. They are found in southeastern Asia, Indonesia, Papua-New Guinea, and the Philippines. Many of these species are endemic to i ...
''.
Taxonomy
Following the review of Smith et al. (2005), 12 species are provisionally accepted based on
morphological,
mtDNA
Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA or mDNA) is the DNA located in mitochondria, cellular organelles within eukaryotic cells that convert chemical energy from food into a form that cells can use, such as adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial DNA ...
12S
rRNA
Ribosomal ribonucleic acid (rRNA) is a type of non-coding RNA which is the primary component of ribosomes, essential to all cells. rRNA is a ribozyme which carries out protein synthesis in ribosomes. Ribosomal RNA is transcribed from ribosoma ...
and
cytochrome ''c'' oxidase subunit I, and
nuclear DNA
Nuclear DNA (nDNA), or nuclear deoxyribonucleic acid, is the DNA contained within each cell nucleus of a eukaryotic organism. It encodes for the majority of the genome in eukaryotes, with mitochondrial DNA and plastid DNA coding for the rest. It ...
18S rRNA and
EF1 subunit α
sequence
In mathematics, a sequence is an enumerated collection of objects in which repetitions are allowed and order matters. Like a set, it contains members (also called ''elements'', or ''terms''). The number of elements (possibly infinite) is calle ...
data:
This genus was formerly split into the
subgenera
In biology, a subgenus (plural: subgenera) is a taxonomic rank directly below genus.
In the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed between t ...
''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
clade
A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English term, ...
s, the relationship of these to the other species, especially the puzzling ''D. dorippus'', is not clear.
Hybridization
Hybridization (or hybridisation) may refer to:
*Hybridization (biology), the process of combining different varieties of organisms to create a hybrid
*Orbital hybridization, in chemistry, the mixing of atomic orbitals into new hybrid orbitals
*Nu ...
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
''Spiroplasma'' is a genus of Mollicutes, a group of small bacteria without cell walls. ''Spiroplasma'' shares the simple metabolism, parasitic lifestyle, fried-egg colony morphology and small genome of other ''Mollicutes'', but has a distinctiv ...
'' infection has been shown in ''D. chrysippus'' and probably also occurs in other species (Jiggins et al. 2000); the consequences for
speciation
Speciation is the evolutionary process by which populations evolve to become distinct species. The biologist Orator F. Cook coined the term in 1906 for cladogenesis, the splitting of lineages, as opposed to anagenesis, phyletic evolution within ...
and
evolution
Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...
are probably similar to those observed in infection with male-killing strains of the better-researched ''
Wolbachia
''Wolbachia'' is a genus of intracellular bacteria that infects mainly arthropod species, including a high proportion of insects, and also some nematodes. It is one of the most common parasitic microbes, and is possibly the most common reproduct ...
'' bacteria.
Phylogeny
Phylogeny of the genus (without '' D. cleophile'').
Synonyms of ''Danaus'' species and subspecies
* Source
The higher classification of Nymphalidae, at Nymphalidae.net* Note: Names preceded by an equal sign ( = ) are synonyms, homonyms, rejected names, or invalid names. Synonymy, given below in abbreviated form, is from Ackery & Vane-Wright (1984).
Tribe
Danaini
The Danaini are a tribe of brush-footed butterflies ( family Nymphalidae). The tribe's type genus ''Danaus'' contains the well-known monarch butterfly (''D. plexippus'') and is also the type genus of the tribe's subfamily, the milkweed butterflie ...
Boisduval, 1833
* ''Danaus'' Kluk, 1802 ( = ''Danaida'' Latreille, 1804; = ''Limnas'' Hübner, 1806; = ''Danais'' Latreille, 1807; = ''Danaus'' Latreille, 1809; = ''Anosia'' Hübner, 1816; = ''Festivus'' Crotch, 1872; = ''Salatura'' Moore, 1880; = ''Nasuma'' Moore, 1883; = ''Tasitia'' Moore, 1883; = ''Danaomorpha'' Kremky, 1925; = ''Panlymnas'' Bryk, 1937; = ''Diogas'' d'Almeida, 1938)
** ''
Danaus cleophile'' (Godart, 1819) ( original name = ''Danais cleophile'' Godart, 1819)
** ''
Danaus plexippus
The monarch butterfly or simply monarch (''Danaus plexippus'') is a milkweed butterfly (subfamily Danainae) in the family Nymphalidae. Other common names, depending on region, include milkweed, common tiger, wanderer, and black-veined brown. It ...
'' (Linnaeus, 1758) ( original name = ''Papilio plexippus'' Linnaeus, 1758; = ''misippiformis'' Meuschen, 1781; = ''archippus'' Fabricius, 1793; = ''menippe'' Hübner, 1816; = ''megalippe'' Hübner, 1826; = ''leucogyne'' Butler, 1884; = ''fumosus'' Hulstaert, 1886; = ''pulchra'' Strecker, 1900; = ''nigrippus'' Haensch, 1909; = ''americanus'' Gunder, 1927; = ''nivosus'' Gunder, 1927; = ''curassavicae'' Fabricius, 1938; = ''portoriciensis'' Clark, 1941; = ''tobagi'' Clark, 1941; = ''disjuncta'' Dufrane, 1948; = ''bipunctata'' Dufrane, 1948; = ''obliterata'' Dufrane, 1948)
** ''
Danaus erippus'' (Cramer, 1775) ( original name = ''Papilio erippus'' Cramer, 1775 ( = ''larensis'' Köhler, 1929; = ''asclepiadis'' Fabricius, 1938)
** ''
Danaus ismare'' (Cramer, 1780) ( original name = ''Papilio ismare'' Cramer, 1780; = ''ismareola'' Butler, 1866; = ''fulvus'' Ribbe, 1890; = ''celebensis'' Rothschild, 1892; = ''felicia''
Fruhstorfer, 1907; = ''goramica'' Fruhstorfer, 1907; = ''alba'' Morishita, 1981)
** ''
Danaus genutia
''Danaus genutia'', the common tiger, is one of the common butterflies of India. It belongs to the "crows and tigers", that is, the Danainae group of the brush-footed butterflies family. The butterfly is also called striped tiger in India to d ...
'' (Cramer, 1779) ( original name = ''Papilio genutia'' Cramer, 1779; = ''adnana'' Swinhoe, 1917; = ''albipars'' Talbot, 1943; = ''alexis'' Waterhouse & Lyell, 1914; = ''bandjira'' Martin, 1911; = ''bimana'' Martin, 1911; = ''connectens'' Moulton, 1921; = ''conspicua'' Butler, 1866; = ''grynion'' Fruhstorfer, 1907; = ''intensa'' Moore, 1883; = ''intermedia'' Moore, 1883; = ''kyllene'' Fruhstorfer, 1910; = ''laratensis'' Butler, 1883; = ''leucoglene'' Felder & Felder, 1865; = ''niasicus'' Fruhstorfer, 1899; = ''nipalensis'' Moore, 1877; = ''partita'' Fruhstorfer, 1897; = ''plexippus'' auctt. nec Linnaeus, 1758; = ''sumatrana'' Moore, 1883; = ''sumbana'' Talbot, 1943; = ''telmissus'' Fruhstorfer, 1910; = ''tuak'' Pryer & Cator, 1894; = ''tychius'' Fruhstorfer, 1910; = ''uniens'' Martin, 1911; = ''wetterensis'' Fruhstorfer, 1899; = ''yuchingkini'' Murayama & Shimonoya, 1960 (hybrid ''chrysippus'' x ''genutia'', Kurosawa, 1973)
** ''
Danaus affinis
''Danaus affinis'', the Malay tiger, mangrove tiger or swamp tiger, is a butterfly found in tropical Asia. It belongs to the "crows and tigers", the danaine group of the brush-footed butterflies family.
This is a highly variable species. In ...
'' (Fabricius, 1775) ( original name = ''Papilio affinis'' Fabricius, 1775; = ''abigar'' Eschscholtz, 1821; = ''adustus'' Godman & Salvin, 1882; = ''affinoides'' Fruhstorfer, 1899; = ''albistriga'' Talbot, 1943; = ''albonotata'' Howarth, 1962; = ''artenice'' Cramer, 1781; = ''aruana'' Moore, 1883; = ''astakos'' Fruhstorfer, 1906; = ''batjana'' Fruhstorfer, 1899; = ''bipuncta'' Talbot, 1943; = ''biseriata'' Butler, 1882; = ''bonguensis'' Fruhstorfer, 1899; = ''cecilia'' Bouganville, 1837; = ''chionippe'' Hübner, 1823; = ''cometho'' Godman & Salvin, 1888; = ''coriacea'' Fruhstorfer, 1906; = ''decentralis'' Fruhstorfer, 1899; = ''decipiens'' Butler, 1882; = ''decipientis'' Strand, 1914; = ''djampeana'' Van Eecke, 1915; = ''fergussonia'' Fruhstorfer, 1907; = ''ferruginea'' Butler, 1876; = ''fuliginosa'' Hagen, 1894; = ''fulgurata'' Butler, 1866; = ''fuscata'' Talbot, 1943; = ''galacterion'' Fruhstorfer, 1906; = ''gelanor'' Waterhouse & Lyell, 1914; = ''hegesippinus'' Röber, 1891; = ''insolata'' Butler, 1870; = ''jimiensis'' Miller & Miller, 1978; = ''jobiensis'' Grose-Smith, 1894; = ''kapaura'' Talbot, 1943; = ''kawiensis'' Fruhstorfer, 1899; = ''kiriwina'' Fruhstorfer, 1907; = ''leucippis'' Röber, 1891; = ''litoralis'' Doherty, 1891; = ''luxurians'' Fruhstorfer, 1907; = ''malayana'' Fruhstorfer, 1899; = ''molyssa'' Fruhstorfer, 1907; = ''mysolica'' Moore, 1883; = ''mytilene'' Felder & Felder, 1860; = ''nigrita'' Moore, 1883; = ''nore'' Swinhoe, 1917; = ''nubila'' Butler, 1866; = ''obscura'' Capronnier, 1886; = ''oesypera'' Talbot, 1943; = ''olga'' Swinhoe, 1917; = ''oros'' Fruhstorfer, 1907; = ''paradoxa'' Röber, 1939; = ''philene'' Stoll 1782; = ''piepersi'' Kalis, 1933; = ''pittakus'' Fruhstorfer, 1907; = ''pleistarchus'' Fruhstorfer, 1912; = ''pseudophilene'' Fruhstorfer, 1907; = ''pullata'' Butler, 1866; = ''rubrica'' Fruhstorfer, 1906; = ''sabrona'' Talbot, 1943; = ''sangira'' Fruhstorfer, 1899; = ''signata'' Talbot, 1943; = ''snelleni'' Kalis, 1933; = ''strephon'' Fruhstorfer, 1907; = ''subnigra'' Joicey & Talbot, 1922; = ''subnubila'' Fruhstorfer, 1907; = ''tambora'' Fruhstorfer, 1899; = ''taroena'' Van Eecke, 1915; = ''taruna'' Fruhstorfer, 1899; = ''transfuga'' Fruhstorfer, 1907; = ''tualana'' Talbot, 1943; = ''vandeldeni'' Kalis, 1933; = ''vorkeinus'' Röber, 1866; = ''wentholti'' Martin, 1914; = ''woodlarkiana'' Fruhstorfer, 1907)
** ''
Danaus melanippus
''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 ...
'' (Cramer, 1777) ( original name = ''Papilio melanippus'' Cramer, 1777; = ''hegesippus'' Cramer, 1777; = ''lotis'' Cramer, 1779; = ''thoe'' Hübner, 1816; = ''edmondii'' Bougainville, 1837; = ''nesippus'' C. Felder, 1862; = ''eurydice'' Butler, 1884; = ''celebensis'' Staudinger, 1889; = ''erebus'', Röber, 1891 ; = ''haruhasa'' Doherty, 1891; = ''pietersii'' Doherty, 1891; = ''taimanu'' Doherty, 1891; = ''fruhstorferi'' Röber, 1897; = ''keteus'' Hagen, 1898; = ''indicus'' Fruhstorfer, 1899; = ''malossona'' Fruhstorfer, 1899; = ''lotina'' Fruhstorfer, 1904; = ''umbrosus'' Fruhstorfer, 1906; = ''philozigetes'' Fruhstorfer, 1907; = ''mezentius'' Fruhstorfer, 1910; = ''meridionigra'' Martin, 1913; = ''edwardi'' Van Eecke, 1914; = ''insularis'' Moulton, 1921; = ''albescens'' Röber, 1927; = ''kotoshonis'' Matsumara, 1929; = ''camorta'' Evans, 1932)
** ''
Danaus eresimus'' (Cramer, 1777) ( original name = ''Papilio eresimus'' Cramer, 1777; = ''ares'' d'Almeida, 1944; = ''asclepidea'' Fabricius, 1938; = ''dilucida'' Forbes, 1939; = ''erginus'' Godman & Salvin, 1897; = ''estevana'' Talbot, 1943; = ''icensis'' Fuchs, 1954; = ''montezuma'' Talbot, 1943; = ''tethys'' Forbes, 1943)
** ''
Danaus plexaure'' (Godart, 1819) ( original name = ''Danais plexaure'' Godart, 1819; = ''brasiliensis'' Capronnier, 1874)
** ''
Danaus gilippus
The queen butterfly (''Danaus gilippus'') is a North and South American butterfly in the family Nymphalidae with a wingspan of . It is orange or brown with black wing borders and small white forewing spots on its dorsal wing surface, and reddish ...
'' (Cramer, 1775) ( original name = ''Papilio gilippus'' Cramer, 1775; = ''berenice'' Cramer, 1779; = ''vincedoxici'' Hübner, 1816; = ''vincetoxici'' Hübner, 1816; = ''cleothera'' Godart, 1819; = ''manuja'' Eschscholtz, 1821; = ''xanthippus'' Felder & Felder, 1860; = ''thersippus'' Bates, 1863; = ''jamaicensis'' Bates, 1864; = ''strigosa'' Bates, 1864; = ''hermippus'' Felder & Felder, 1865; = ''nivosus'' Godman & Salvin, 1897; = ''esperanza'' Hoffman, 1924; = ''centralis'' Joicey & Talbot, 1925; = ''kempfferi'' Hall, 1925; = ''kerri'' Comstock, 1925; = ''vincetoxici'' Fabricius, 1938; = ''candidus'' Clark, 1941; = ''gilippina'' Hoffman, 1940; = ''wheeleri'' Talbot, 1943; = ''roedingeri'' Fuchs, 1954)
** ''
Danaus chrysippus
''Danaus chrysippus'', also known as the plain tiger, African queen, or African monarch, is a medium-sized butterfly widespread in Asia, Australia and Africa. It belongs to the Danainae subfamily of the brush-footed butterfly family Nymphalidae. ...
'' (Linnaeus, 1758) ( original name = ''Papilio chrysippus'' Linnaeus, 1758; = ''albinus'' Lanz, 1896; = ''amplifascia'' Talbot, 1943; = ''anomala'' Dufrane, 1948; = ''asclepiadis'' Gagliardi, 1811; = ''auriflava'' Van Eecke, 1914; = ''axantha'' Hayward, 1922; = ''bataviana'' Moore, 1883; = ''bipunctata'' Dufrane, 1948; = ''bowringi'' Moore, 1883; = ''candidata'' Hayward, 1922; = ''chrysipellus'' Strand, 1910; = ''clarippus'' Weymer, 1884; = ''completa'' Dufrane, 1948; = ''cratippus'' Felder, 1860; = ''deficiens'' Dufrane, 1948; = ''duplicata'' Dufrane, 1948; = ''duponti'' Dufrane, 1948; = ''evanescens'' Storace, 1949; = ''fuscippus'' Van Eecke, 1915; = ''gelderi'' Snellen, 1891; = ''hanoiensis'' Dufrane, 1948; = ''hypermnestra'' Stoneham, 1958; = ''impunctata'' Dufrane, 1948; = ''infumata'' Aurivillius, 1898; = ''joannisi'' Dufrane, 1948; = ''kanariensis'' Fruhstorfer, 1898; = ''lemeemagdalenae'' Lemeé, 1950; = ''limbata'' Matsumura, 1929; = ''luxurians'' Dufrane, 1948; = ''margarita'' Röber, 1926; = ''orientis'' Aurivillius, 1909; = ''ornata'' Dufrane, 1948; = ''petilia'' Stoll, 1790; = ''praealbata'' Froreich, 1928; = ''pseudopetilea'' Kalis, 1933; = ''radiata'' Dufrane, 1948; = ''reducta'' Dufrane, 1948; = ''rubra'' Van Eecke, 1915; = ''semialbinus'' Strand, 1910; = ''subpurpurea'' Matsumura, 1929; = ''subreducta'' Dufrane, 1948; = ''vigelii'' Heylaerts, 1884; = ''witteellus'' Overlaet, 1955; = ''yuchingkini'' Murayama & Shimonoya, 1960 (hybrid ''D. chrysippus'' x ''D. genutia'')
*** ''Danaus chrysippus chrysippus'' (Linnaeus, 1758)
*** ''Danaus chrysippus aegyptius'' (Schreber, 1759) ( original name = ''Papilio aegyptius'' Schreber, 1759; = ''Danaus chrysippus klugii'' Butler, 1886; = ''Papilio alcippus'' Cramer, 1777; = ''Danaus chrysippus liboria'' Hulstaert, 1931; = ''Danaus chrysippus alcippoides'' Moore, 1883; = ''Danaus chrysippus dorippus'' Klug, 1845; = ''Danaus chrysippus transiens'' Suffert, 1900)
References
* Ackery, P. & Vane-Wright, R. (1984). ''Milkweed Butterflies: Their Cladistics and Biology''. London: British Museum (Natural History.
* Jiggins, F. M.; Hurst, G. D. D.; Jiggins, C. D.; Schulenburg, J. H. G. v. D. & Majerus, M. E. N. (2000). The butterfly ''Danaus chrysippus'' is infected by a male-killing ''Spiroplasma'' bacterium. ''Parasitology'' 120(5): 439–446.
(HTML abstract)
* Lushai, G., Goulson, D., Allen, J. A., Maclean, N., Smith, D. A. S., & Gordon, I. J. (2003). Incomplete sexual isolation in sympatry between subspecies of the butterfly Danaus chrysippus (L.) and the creation of a hybrid zone. ''Heredity, 90''(3), 236-246.
* Smith, D. A. S., Gordon, I. J., Lushai, G., Goulson, D., Allen, J. A., & Maclean, N. (2002). Hybrid queen butterflies from the cross Danaus chrysippus (L.) x D. gilippus (Cramer): Confirmation of species status for the parents and further support for Haldane's Rule. ''Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 76''(4), 535-544.
* Smith, D. A. S., Lushai, G., & Allen, J. A. A. (2005). A classification of Danaus butterflies (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) based upon data from morphology and DNA. ''Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 144''(2), 191-212.
{{Authority control
Nymphalidae genera
Nymphalidae of South America
Taxa named by Jan Krzysztof Kluk