''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 living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

butterflies Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The group comprises t ...

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 is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to confl ...

. 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 souther ...

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 ...

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. 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 Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA or mDNA) is the DNA located in mitochondrion, mitochondria, cellular organelles within eukaryotic cells that convert chemical energy from food into a form that cells can use, such as adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mit ...

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 riboso ...

and cytochrome ''c'' oxidase

subunit Subunit may refer to: *Subunit HIV vaccine, a class of HIV vaccine *Protein subunit, a protein molecule that assembles with other protein molecules *Monomer, a molecule that may bind chemically to other molecules to form a polymer *Sub-subunit, a ...

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. ...

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 called ...

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 betwee ...

''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 ''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 distinctive ...

'' 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 withi ...

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 repro ...

'' bacteria.

Phylogeny

Plain Tiger (Danaus chrysippus) caterpillar on a Calotropis (Milkweed) species in Hyderabad, AP W IMG 7968

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 butterfli ...

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 The Jamaican monarch (''Danaus cleophile'') is a species of milkweed butterfly in the nymphalid Danainae subfamily. It is found in the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Jamaica. The Danaus cleophile jamaicensis, or Jamaican butterfly, is generally ...

'' (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 ''Danaus ismare'', the ismare tiger, is a butterfly found in tropical Indonesia. It belongs to the brush-footed butterflies family. File:Danaus ismare.JPG File:Danaus ismare1.JPG Subspecies *''D. i. ismare'' (Moluccas) *''D. i. fulvus'' Ribbe, ...

'' (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 di ...

'' (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'' (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'' (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 ''Danaus eresimus'', the soldier or tropical queen, is a North American, Caribbean, and South American butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. Their flight is slow and they are reasonably easy to approach, but will fly for some distance if approac ...

'' (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 In Greek mythology, Danaus (, ; grc, Δαναός ''Danaós'') was the king of Libya. His myth is a foundation legend of Argos, one of the foremost Mycenaean cities of the Peloponnesus. In Homer's ''Iliad'', "Danaans" ("tribe of Danaus") and " ...

'' (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 reddis ...

'' (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