Danainae is a subfamily of the family

Nymphalidae The Nymphalidae are the largest family of butterflies, with more than 6,000 species distributed throughout most of the world. Belonging to the superfamily Papilionoidea, they are usually medium-sized to large butterflies. Most species have a red ...

, the brush-footed butterflies. It includes the Daniadae, or milkweed butterflies, who lay their

eggs Humans and human ancestors have scavenged and eaten animal eggs for millions of years. Humans in Southeast Asia had domesticated chickens and harvested their eggs for food by 1,500 BCE. The most widely consumed eggs are those of fowl, especial ...

on various

milkweed ''Asclepias'' is a genus of herbaceous, perennial, flowering plants known as milkweeds, named for their latex, a milky substance containing cardiac glycosides termed cardenolides, exuded where cells are damaged. Most species are toxic to humans ...

s on which their

larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. ...

e (

caterpillars Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder Symp ...

) feed, as well as the clearwing butterflies (

Ithomiini Ithomiini is a butterfly tribe in the nymphalid subfamily Danainae. It is sometimes referred to as the tribe of clearwing butterflies or glasswing butterflies. Some authors consider the group to be a subfamily (Ithomiinae). These butterflies are ...

), and the

tellervini Tellervini is a tribe of danaid butterflies with only the one genus ''Tellervo'', with six widely distributed species found in the Australasian realm and the Indomalayan realm (also called the ''Oriental region''). The taxon is apparently monoph ...

. Some 300 species of Danainae exist worldwide. Most of the

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 ...

are found in tropical Asia and Africa, while the

are diverse in the Neotropics.

Tellervini Tellervini is a tribe of danaid butterflies with only the one genus ''Tellervo'', with six widely distributed species found in the Australasian realm and the Indomalayan realm (also called the ''Oriental region''). The taxon is apparently monoph ...

are restricted to Australia and the Oriental region. Four species are found in North America: the monarch butterfly (''Danaus plexippus''), the

queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

(''Danaus gilippus''), the tropical milkweed butterfly (''Lycorea cleobaea''), and the soldier butterfly (or "tropic queen", ''Danaus eresimus''). Of these, the monarch is by far the most famous, being one of the most recognizable butterflies in the Americas.

Taxonomy

Milkweed butterflies are now classified as the subfamily Danainae within the family Nymphalidae; however, the previous family name Danaidae is still occasionally used. The

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

milkweed butterfly '' Archaeolycorea'' is known from the Oligocene or

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

Tremembé Formation Tremembé is a municipality in the state of São Paulo in Brazil. It is part of the Metropolitan Region of Vale do Paraíba e Litoral Norte. The population is 47,714 (2020 est.) in an area of 191.09 km². The elevation is 560 m. A shr ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. It provides evidence that the present milkweed butterflies originated more than 20–30 million years ago.

Characteristics

Larvae have thoracic

tubercles In anatomy, a tubercle (literally 'small tuber', Latin for 'lump') is any round nodule, small eminence, or warty outgrowth found on external or internal organs of a plant or an animal. In plants A tubercle is generally a wart-like projection, ...

and use plants within the family

Apocynaceae Apocynaceae (from ''Apocynum'', Greek for "dog-away") is a family of flowering plants that includes trees, shrubs, herbs, stem succulents, and vines, commonly known as the dogbane family, because some taxa were used as dog poison Members of ...

that often contain latex-like compounds in the stem as hosts. Adults are

aposematic Aposematism is the advertising by an animal to potential predators that it is not worth attacking or eating. This unprofitability may consist of any defences which make the prey difficult to kill and eat, such as toxicity, venom, foul taste o ...

(brightly colored as a warning signal).

Threats

Numerous

wasp A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. ...

s and

tachinid flies The Tachinidae are a large and variable family of true flies within the insect order Diptera, with more than 8,200 known species and many more to be discovered. Over 1,300 species have been described in North America alone. Insects in this family ...

are

parasitoids In evolutionary ecology, a parasitoid is an organism that lives in close association with its host at the host's expense, eventually resulting in the death of the host. Parasitoidism is one of six major evolutionary strategies within parasi ...

of milkweed butterfly caterpillars. The extensive modification of landscapes in the United States and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, large-scale use of pesticides, and increased deforestation in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

threaten the migratory monarch butterfly.

References

External links

"Danainae_Boisduval,_[1833]"
at_Markku_Savela's_''Lepidoptera_and_Some_Other_Life_Forms'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Milkweed_Butterfly "Danainae_Boisduval,_[1833]"
at_Markku_Savela's_''Lepidoptera_and_Some_Other_Life_Forms'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Milkweed_Butterfly Danainae">_ Nymphalidae.html" ;"title="Danainae.html" ;"title="833]"">"Danainae Boisduval, [1833]"
at Markku Savela's ''Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Milkweed Butterfly Danainae"> Nymphalidae">-

Taxonomy

Characteristics

Threats

References

Further reading

External links