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Hypolimnas misippus

(Redirected from Hypolimnas alcippoides)

Hypolimnas misippus, the Danaid eggfly,[2][3] mimic,[3] or diadem, is a widespread species of nymphalid butterfly. It is well known for polymorphism and mimicry. Males are in a singular form, appearing blackish with distinctive white spots that are fringed in blue. However, females show multiple forms that include male-like forms while others closely resemble the toxic butterflies Danaus chrysippus and Danaus plexippus.[4]

Danaid eggfly
male, upperside
female, upperside
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Nymphalidae
Genus: Hypolimnas
Species:
H. misippus
Binomial name
Hypolimnas misippus
(Linnaeus, 1764)
Synonyms
  • Papilio misippus Linnaeus, 1764
  • Diadema misippus
  • Papilio inaria Cramer, 1779
  • Hypolimnas alcippoides Butler, 1883
  • Hypolimnas misippus ab. dorippoides Aurivillius, 1899
  • Hypolimnas misippus f. immima Bernardi, 1959

Distribution

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They are found across Africa, Asia,[2] and Australia.[3] In the Americas, they are found in the West Indies, with strays in Central and North America.[3][5]

It is widely distributed across the Indian Ocean islands,[6] including Seychelles, and has been recorded on multiple islands such as Mahé, Praslin, Aldabra and Cousine.[7]

Description

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Further information: Glossary of entomology terms

The adults are on wing during late summer, between March and April. The wing periods are associated with rainfall patterns, as peak abundances occur shortly after rainfall. They are rarely seen during dry weathers.[8] This correlation is due food plants growth rates and suitable conditions for larval growth.[9][10]

 
Male underside

Male

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The male is monomorphic,[11][12] with the upperwings dark velvety brownish black.

Forewing: The forewing has a broad white oval spot between veins 3 and 7. A smaller spot near the apex is also present. These spots are crossed by the black veins and bordered in iridescent blue that is visible only at certain angles. The hindwing has a larger white spot but the veins crossing it are yellowish and not as prominent as on the forewing. There are some white specks along the tornus and the margin is edged with white and black.[13]

The underside of forewing is colored rich light chestnut at the bases of interspaces 1 and 2, and the cell. The discal area, however, shows fuscous brown hue. The apical half is golden brown, with the basal half of costal margin is flecked with white. There are three white spots on th cell, which is black anteriorly. Beyond the apex of the cell, there is a narrow, short, transverse white mark. A broad, oval, white discal patch extends from costa to the middle of interspace 2, edged with a diffused dusky black border. The preapical white spot similar to that on the upperside, lacks the blue outline and continus posteriorly as a transverse series of small postdiscal white spots. Additionally, there is an inner and an outer transverse series of white lunules, separated by a sinuous black line, followed by a terminal black line.[13]

Hindwing: basal and postdiscal areas chestnut-red; a black spot at base of vein 8 defined by white lines; a very broad medio-discal white band from costa to dorsum, crossed at apex of interspace 1 a by a transverse black mark, beyond the middle of interspace 7 by a broad black bar, and in interspace 7 bordered inwardly by black; a postdiscal series of small white spots in continuation of those on the forewing; an inner subterminal series of paired subtriangular small white spots, an outer subterminal line of slender white lunules, an intervening black sinuous line between the two series and a black terminal line. Cilia of both forewings and hindwings white alternated with black. Antennae, head, thorax and abdomen dark brown; beneath, the palpi and thorax white, the abdomen chestnut.[13]

The adult males are very active in the late afternoon after rain.[14]

Female – polymorphic

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Phenotypically, multiple distinct type of forms are observed: misippus, alcippoides, dorippoides, immima and inaria, along with an intermediate form between immima and alcippoides, in areas where D. chrysippus is absent.[15] This absence contributes to presence of intermediate forms, due to lack of model species causing variability in mimicry.[16]

 
Female, underside

First form

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Forewing: The upperside coloration is rich tawny. The forewing displays black along the costa, the apical half of the wing, and the termen. The inner margin of this black area follows a line crossing the cell obliquely and curving round to near apex of interspace 1a. There is a prominet white spot beyond apex of the cell. The forewing also features an oblique band of more, elongate white spots, accompanied with a more transverse short subapical series of three or four much smaller white spots. An inner and an outer sub-terminal transverse series of very small slender white lunules is also present.[13]

Hindwing: a transverse round spot in interspace 7, the terminal margin broadly black, the latter traversed by two transverse series of paired small white lunules. Cilia of forewings and hindwings white alternated with black. Underside paler tawny yellow, the disc of the forewing deeper tawny; the markings are much as on the upperside but differ as follows: Forewing: three white spots along the anterior margin of cell, the black on the apical area beyond the oblique band of white spots replaced by golden. Hindwing: a black spot at base of vein 8, another at base of interspace 5, and a postdiscal transverse series of small white spots in addition to the markings as on the upperside.[13]

Second form

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Similar to the above but the disc of the hindwing on both upper and under sides white, =alcippoides, Butler.

Third form

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Similar to the first form, but on the forewing the oblique series of: elongate spots yellowish and the middle portion of the black apical area tawny.[13][17]

Life cycle

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Larva: de la Chaumette (teste Moore) describes this as cylindrical, black, with a darker black dorsal line, banded transversely with pale brown transverse tuberculated small spots; beneath dark olive-brown; legs and head brick-red; head furnished with two long black thick branched spines; the rest of the segments except the anal with ten branched spines, dirty, transparent white in colour and disposed in longitudinal rows, anal segment with two similar spines.[13]

Food plant: Portulaca oleracea, Asystasia lawiana.[18]

Pupa: Pendulous. Short and thick; light brown, without metallic spots, variegated and streaked with bistre, particularly towards the head and tail. (de la Chaumette.)[13]

Mimicry

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The females of H. misippus mimic (in appearance) the similar-sized Danaus chrysippus [19] or the Plain Tiger, a toxic butterfly with the toxic Milkweed as its host plant. The vibrant colours of the Plain Tiger advertise its unpalatable nature to predators around, so the Danaid female sends out the same signal, regardless of it not being toxic. To aid this behaviour, the females also sometimes tend to move with plain tiger butterflies. There are very minute differences in appearance of the two butterflies.[20]

Larval Host Plants

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Life Stages

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  •  
    Egg
  •  
    Caterpillar
  •  
    Pupa
  •  
    Portrait of the butterfly
  •  
    male underside
  •  
    female

References

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hypolimnas misippus.
 
Wikisource has original text related to this article:
  1. ^ Coetzer, A.J.; Westrip, J.R.S. (2021). "Hypolimnas misippus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2021: e.T62148588A161331411. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2021-1.RLTS.T62148588A161331411.en. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
  2. ^ a b R.K., Varshney; Smetacek, Peter (2015). A Synoptic Catalogue of the Butterflies of India. New Delhi: Butterfly Research Centre, Bhimtal & Indinov Publishing, New Delhi. p. 206. doi:10.13140/RG.2.1.3966.2164. ISBN 978-81-929826-4-9.
  3. ^ a b c d "Hypolimnas Hübner, [1819]" at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms. Archived 2018-04-29 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ D' Abrera, B. (1980). Butterflies of the Afrotropical Region. Landsdowne Editions.
  5. ^ "Hypolimnas misippus (Linnaeus, 1764)". butterfliesofamerica.com. Retrieved 2018-02-26.
  6. ^ Corbet, A.S.; Pendlebury, H.M. (1956). The Butterflies of the Malay Peninsula. Edinburgh and London: Oliver and Boyd.
  7. ^ Fletcher, T. Bainbrigge (1910). "No. XI.-LEPIDOPTERA, EXCLUSIVE OF THE TORTRICIDAE AND TINEIDAE, WITH SOME REMARKS ON THEIR DISTRIBUTION AND MEANS OF DISPERSAL AMONGST THE ISLANDS OF THE INDIAN OCEAN". Transactions of the Linnean Society of London. 2nd Series: Zoology. 13 (2): 265–323. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.1910.tb00518.x. ISSN 1945-9440.
  8. ^ Edmunds, M. (1969). "Polymorphism in the mimetic butterfly Hypolimnas misippus L. in Ghana". Heredity. 24 (2): 281–302.
  9. ^ Smith, D.A.S. (1976). "Phenotypic diversity, mimicry and natural selection in the African butterfly Hypolimnas misippus L. (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae)". Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. 8: 183–204.
  10. ^ BOURQUIN, O., LAWRENCE, J. & HITCHINS, P. in review. A note on the butterflies of Cousine Island, Seychelles. Phelsuma.
  11. ^ Leigh, G.F. (1904). "Synepigonic series of Papilio cenea and Hypolimnas misippus together with observations on the life history of the former". Transactions of the Entomological Society of London. 1904: 677–694.
  12. ^ Rothschild, M.; Van Euw, J.; Reichstein, T.; Smith, D.A.S.; Pierre, J. (1975). "Cardenolide storage in Danaus chrysippus (L.) with additional notes on D. plexippus (L.)". Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B. 190: 1–31. doi:10.1098/rspb.1975.0076.
  13. ^ a b c d e f g h   One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Bingham, Charles Thomas (1905). Fauna of British India. Butterflies Vol. 1. pp. 388–389.
  14. ^ Scott, James A. (1974). "The Interaction of Behavior, Population Biology, and Environment in Hypaurotis crysalus (Lepidoptera)". The American Midland Naturalist. 91 (2): 383–394. doi:10.2307/2424329. ISSN 0003-0031.
  15. ^ De Joannis, J. (1894). "Mission Scientifique de M. Ch. Alluaud aux îles Sechelles, Lépidoptères" [Scientific Mission of Mr. Ch. Alluaud to the Seychelles Islands, Lepidoptera]. Annales de la Société Entomologique de France (in French). 1894: 425–438.
  16. ^ Carpenter, G.D. (1949). "Pseudacraea eurytus (L.) (Lep. Nymphalidae): A study of a polymorphic mimic in various degrees of speciation". Transactions of the Royal Entomological Society of London. 1894: 425–438.
  17. ^   One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Moore, Frederic (1899–1900). Lepidoptera Indica. Vol. IV. London: Lovell Reeve and Co. pp. 144–150.
  18. ^ Kunte, K. (2006). Additions to the known larval host plants of Indian butterflies. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 103(1):119–121
  19. ^ Smith, D. A. S. (1973). "Batesian Mimicry between Danaus chrysippus and Hypolimnas misippus (Lepidoptera) in Tanzania". Nature. 242 (5393): 129–131. doi:10.1038/242129a0. ISSN 0028-0836.
  20. ^ Gulshan, Abhishek (2020-09-16). "The Danaid Eggfly butterfly is Nature's great pretender". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2021-07-27.
  21. ^ "Hypolimnas misippus - Danaid Eggfly - Butterflies of India". www.ifoundbutterflies.org. Retrieved 2021-07-27.
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