''Euploea mulciber'', the striped blue crow, is a butterfly found in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainlan ...

that belongs to the crows and tigers, that is, the danaid group of the

brush-footed butterflies 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 redu ...

family.

Description

Hindwing ovate. Upperside: in the male dark brown entirely glossed with brilliant blue; the following violescent white spots—a spot in apex of cell, a much curved series of five or six discal spots, a subterminal sinuous row of larger spots and an incomplete terminal series of dots. Hindwing uniform, unmarked except for a large patch of light-brown, densely set hair-like scales on the outer upper third of the wing. The female is a lighter brown, the forewing only glossed with blue on the disc; spots white, and more or less similar to those on the forewing of the male, but larger and pure white; in addition a streak in cell and another curved streak in interspace 1 showing through faintly from the underside. Hindwing: narrow white streaks in cell and in the interspaces beyond and a terminal row of slightly elongate white spots. Underside similar to the upperside in each, but the markings broader, larger and more distinct; in the male there are besides a small white spot in apex of cell, two or three discal and incomplete sub-terminal and terminal series of white dots. Antennae, head, thorax, and abdomen dark velvety brown, the abdomen glossed with greenish blue above; beneath, the head and thorax spotted, the abdomen transversely banded with white. Larva. "Cylindrical, with four pairs of long fleshy subdorsal filaments which have pink bases and black tips, three pairs being on the anterior segments and the fourth pair on the 12th segment. Body pinkish white with lateral yellowish blotches, the segments each divided by a black line and anteriorly bordered by a narrow transverse pink band and purple-brown stripes ; spiracles black ; head with a dark red stripe in front and one on each side ; fore legs black, middle and hind legs black ringed with pink" (Moore, Larva of the Javan form, E. claudia) Pupa. "Short, thick across the middle; thorax concave behind; abdominal segments dorsally convex, metallic golden-brown with darker brown anterior stripe." (Moore.) Larva feed on ''Nerium indicum'', ''N. oleander'', ''Ichnocarpus'' spp., ''Toxocarpus wightianus'', ''Aristolochia'' spp., ''Argyreia penangiana'', ''Ficus'' spp., ''Ficus retusa'', ''F. benjamina'', and ''Ichnocarpus volubis''.

Gallery

File:Euploea mulciber.jpg , Female ventral view. From the Itami Insect Museum, Itami, Hyōgo, Japan Striped blue crow (Euploea mulciber mulciber) male S.jpg, Male,

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

References

Butterflies of Asia Butterflies of Indochina Euploea Butterflies of Singapore Butterflies described in 1777 Taxa named by Pieter Cramer {{Danainae-stub

Description

Gallery

See also

References