Danaus genutia

Common tiger
Upperside
Underside
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Nymphalidae
Genus:	Danaus
Species:	D. genutia
Binomial name
Danaus genutia (Cramer, [1779])
Synonyms
Papilio genutia Cramer, [1779] Danaus adnana Swinhoe, 1917 Danaus plexippus plexippus f. albipars Talbot, 1943 Danaus bandjira Martin, 1911 Danaus bimana Martin, 1911 Danaida plexippus plexippus f. grynion Fruhstorfer, 1907 Danaus nipalensis Moore, 1877 Danaus sumbana Talbot, 1943 Danaus tuak Pryer & Cator, 1894 Danaus uniens Martin, 1911 Salatura intermedia Moore, 1883 Salatura intensa Moore, 1883 Salatura laratensis Butler, 1883 Danaida alexis Waterhouse & Lyell, 1914

Danaus genutia, the common tiger, is one of the common butterflies of India. It belongs to the "crows and tigers", that is, the Danainae group of the brush-footed butterflies family. The butterfly is also called striped tiger in India to differentiate it from the equally common plain tiger, Danaus chrysippus.

The butterfly closely resembles the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) of the Americas. The wingspan is 7 to 95 millimetres (0.28 to 3.74 in). Both sexes of the butterfly have tawny wings with veins marked with broad black bands. The female has a pouch on the hindwing. The margins of the wings are black with two rows of white spots. The underside of the wings resembles the upperside but is paler in colouration. The male common tiger has a prominent black-and-white spot on the underside of the hindwing. In drier regions the tawny part of the hindwing pales and approaches white in colour making it very similar to the white tiger (D. melanippus).

D. genutia is distributed throughout India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and extending to South-East Asia and Australia (except New Guinea). At least in the South Asian part of its range it is fairly common, locally very common.

This butterfly occurs in scrub jungles, fallowland adjacent to habitation, dry and moist deciduous forests, preferring areas of moderate to heavy rainfall. Also occurs in degraded hill slopes and ridges, both, bare or denuded, and, those covered with secondary growth.

While it is a strong flier, it never flies rapidly or high. It has stronger and faster strokes than the plain tiger. The butterfly ranges forth in search of its host and nectar plants. It visits gardens where it nectars on the flowers of Adelocaryum, Cosmos, Celosia, Lantana, Zinnia, and similar flowers.

...
Wikipedia