''Hypolimnas anomala'', the Malayan eggfly or crow eggfly () is a species of eggfly.

Subspecies

Subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

include: *''Hypolimnas anomala anomala'' (southern Thailand, Peninsular Malaya, Singapore, Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Palawan, Philippines, Bali, Lombok, Enggano, Bawean) *''Hypolimnas anomala arnoldi'' Fruhstorfer, 1903 (Kangean, Sumbawa, Flores) *''Hypolimnas anomala discandra'' Weymer, 1885 (Nias) *''Hypolimnas anomala euvaristos'' Fruhstorfer, 1912 (Philippines: Mindanao) *''Hypolimnas anomala interstincta'' (Butler, 1873) (Borneo) *''Hypolimnas anomala stellata'' (Fruhstorfer, 1912) (Sulawesi, Buton, Kabaena, Bangai, Sula) *''Hypolimnas anomala sumbawana'' Pagenstecher, 1898 (Sumbawa) *''Hypolimnas anomala truentus'' Fruhstorfer, 1912 (Philippines: Luzon and possibly Babuyanes) *''Hypolimnas anomala wallaceana'' (Butler, 1873) (Sulawesi)

Distribution and habitat

This species is present as various subspecies in South East Asia (

Moluccas The Maluku Islands (; Indonesian: ''Kepulauan Maluku'') or the Moluccas () are an archipelago in the east of Indonesia. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone. Geographically they are located eas ...

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

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 ...

). It especially occurs in lowlands and tropical rainforests, wastelands, hill parks and natural reserves.

Description

''Hypolimnas anomala'' can reach a

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan of ...

of . These butterflies have brown forewings with a purple sheen. They show variable white markings. Usually there are a double row of white marginal spots and three pale streaks on each forewings. The hindwings are rather paler, with dark brown veins. The undersides of both wings are similar to the uppersides. In the adult butterflies only four legs are present.Australian Lepidoptera
/ref> These butterflies mimic ''

Euploea ''Euploea'' is a genus of milkweed butterflies. The species are generally dark in coloration, often quite blackish, for which reason they are commonly called crows. As usual for their subfamily, they are poisonous due to feeding on milkweeds and ...

'' species.

Biology

Females lay golden in colour globular eggs in a large cluster on the underside of the leaves. They hatch after about 3–4 days. The 6th (and final) instarcaterpillars are black with yellow spots and spines. Also the head is yellow. with long black cephalic horns. They are gregarious and usually occur in large numbers. They feed on leaves of

Urticaceae The Urticaceae are a family, the nettle family, of flowering plants. The family name comes from the genus ''Urtica''. The Urticaceae include a number of well-known and useful plants, including nettles in the genus ''Urtica'', ramie (''Boehmeri ...

(''

Pipturus argenteus ''Pipturus argenteus'', known as false stinger, native mulberry, white mulberry, white nettle, amahatyan (Chamorro), and ghasooso ( Carolinian), is a small tree native to Malesia, Papuasia, northern and eastern Australia, Micronesia, Melanesia a ...

'', '' Pipturus arboresceus'', ''

Pouzolzia ''Pouzolzia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the Urticaceae, nettle family. There are about 35 species distributed throughout the tropical world. Most are shrubs, and some are herbs. The genus was named for French botanist and plant collector ...

'', '' Villebrunea'' species ) and

Euphorbiaceae Euphorbiaceae, the spurge family, is a large family of flowering plants. In English, they are also commonly called euphorbias, which is also the name of a genus in the family. Most spurges, such as ''Euphorbia paralias'', are herbs, but some, e ...

(''

Claoxylon ''Claoxylon'' is a flowering plant genus in the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, comprising dioecious subshrubs to small trees. It was first described as a genus in 1824. The genus is distributed in paleotropical areas: Madagascar through South and ...

'').Michael F Brab
Butterflies of Australia: Their Identification, Biology and Distribution
/ref>

External links

Tree of Life

Bibliography

*Corbet AS, Pendlebury HM, and Eliot JN. 1992. The butterflies of the Malay Peninsula. Malayan Nature Society, Kuala Lumpur. *Parsons M. 1999. The butterflies of Papua New Guinea: their systematics and biology. Academic Press, San Diego. *Michael F. Braby, Butterflies of Australia, CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 2000, vol. 2, pp. 566–567.

References

Butterflies described in 1869

anomala ''Anomala'' is a genus of shining leaf chafers in the family of beetles known as Scarabaeidae. There are at least 1,200 described species in ''Anomala''. A common characteristic behavior of beetles in ''Anomala'' is that most grubs of these ...

Butterflies of Singapore Butterflies of Borneo Butterflies of Java Taxa named by Alfred Russel Wallace {{Nymphalidae-stub