Danaini Explained

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 butterflies (Danainae).

The Danaini do not have a fixed colloquial name for the entire tribe, but in particular for subtribe Danaina the term tiger butterflies is occasionally used in reference to the numerous species in several genera.

Classification

Subtribe Danaina Boisduval, [1833]

• Amauris – clerics
• Danaus – monarchs, queens and tigers
• Ideopsis – glassy tigers, Southeast Asian tree- and wood-nymphs
• Parantica – tigers
• Tiradelphe – Schneider's surprise
• Tirumala – blue tigers

Subtribe Euploeina Moore, [1880]

• Anetia – anetias and false "fritillaries"
• Euploea – crows
• Idea – tree nymphs, paper butterflies
• Lycorea – mimic queens
• Protoploea – magpie butterfly

The fossil milkweed butterfly Archaeolycorea from the Oligocene or Miocene Tremembé Formation of Brazil is often assigned to this tribe, specifically the Euploeina. Whether this is correct is not entirely certain.

External links

• "Danainae Boisduval, [1833]"] at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms
• Danaini at Tree of Life