''Parantica sita'', the chestnut tiger, is a butterfly found in Asia 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
Wings elongate, almost as in ''
Idea
In common usage and in philosophy, ideas are the results of thought. Also in philosophy, ideas can also be mental representational images of some object. Many philosophers have considered ideas to be a fundamental ontological category of being ...
''. Upperside of forewing black or fuliginous black, with the following bluish-white subhyaline markings. A streak from base in interspace 1b, very broad streaks filling the basal three-fourths of interspace 1, and the whole of the cell, five very large quadrate discal spots, two long preapical streaks, three shorter streaks above them, a sub-terminal series of more or less rounded spots decreasing in size anteriorly and curved inwards opposite apex, and an incomplete subterminal series of smaller spots. Hindwing chestnut red, with subhyaline streaks and spots as follows: streaks from base, not reaching the termen in interspaces 1a and 1b, two broad streaks united to near their apex in interspace 1, a streak filling the cell, and beyond it a discal series of large inwardly pointed elongate spots and incomplete ill-defined subterminal and terminal series of spots. Underside similar, the markings clearer and more complete. Antennae black; head and thorax black, spotted with white; abdomen from brown to bright ochraceous, beneath whitish. Male secondary sex-mark in form 2.
Distribution
Along the Himalayas and into the Malayan region. Northern Pakistan, Kashmir, northern India, Sikkim, Tibet, China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Malaya, Ussuri, Sakhalin, Indochina.
Life history
Larva: On emergence a dirty white colour with transverse lines on each segment, two somewhat long and thin tentacles or processes on the third, and two shorter ones on the twelfth segment. When fully fed the larva is about 1.5 inches (38 mm) long, the ground colour is of a pale yellowish green, with two rows of dorsal and a row on each side of lateral yellow spots, the head is black with grey spots on the face, the legs black.
Pupa: pale emerald green with golden-yellow spots. From eggs laid in September the imago issued in the following April.
Food plants: ''
Marsdenia roylei'', W
''
Asclepias curassavica
''Asclepias curassavica'', commonly known as tropical milkweed, is a flowering plant species of the milkweed genus, ''Asclepias''. It is native to the American tropics and has a pantropical distribution as an introduced species. Other common nam ...
'', ''
Cynanchum caudatum'', ''
C. grandifolium'', ''
C. sublanceolatum'', ''
Hoya carnosa
''Hoya carnosa'', the porcelainflower or wax plant, is an asclepiad species of flowering plant in the dogbane family Apocynaceae. It is one of the many species of ''Hoya'' that are native to Eastern Asia and Australia. It is a common house plant ...
'', ''
Marsdenia tinctoria'', ''
M. tomentosa'', ''
Metaplexis
''Metaplexis'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Apocynaceae, first described as a genus in 1810. As presently conceived, it contains two known species, both native to east Asia.
Description
''Metaplexis'' plants are vines that reach ...
'' spp., ''
Tylophora aristolochioides
''Tylophora'' is a genus of climbing plant or vine, first described as a genus in 1810. It is native to tropical and subtropical Asia, Africa, and Australia. Most of the species are perennial lianas. The name is derived from the Ancient Greek ...
'', ''
Vincetoxicum polyanthum'' (syn. ''Tylophora floribunda''), ''
T. japonica'', ''
T. ovata'', ''
T. tanakae''.
[Markku Savela]
"''Parantica'' Moore, [1880]"
at Markku Savela's ''Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms''
Cultural references
*In March 1987 Democratic People's Republic of Korea">DPR Korea
North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...