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Bali Impressions-Animals in and around your
house or Hotel-Butterflies |
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Plain Tiger-Danaus
chrysippus-Danaidae |
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Native South East Asia .
Wingspan: 6-8 cm |
The
sexes are similar.
The Plain Tiger is an insect of the blazing sun and prefers to stay
around large open fields, even during the hottest time of the day when
others have retired to the shady thickets. It visits flowers regularly
for nectar. The male is not particularly fond of visiting mud puddles or
wet soil. As evening approaches, it often congregates with other Danaids
to roost under the canopy of large trees.
This is an unpalatable poisonous species, avoided both by birds and
lizards. The chemical substances that deter the predators are mostly
assimilated by the larva and then passed on to the adult through the
pupa.The larvae feed on Calotropis gigantea, a plant with a milky sap
poisonous to both man and animals. For egg laying, the females often
select the lowest leaves of young plants that are usually a foot or two
tall. Like most other Danaids, the female takes care when she lays her
eggs. It checks out the surface of the intended location with the tip of
her abdomen before placing her egg. |
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Favourite flowers |
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Crotalaria pallida |
Tridax procumbens, |
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Caterpillar feed on |
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Asclepias-curassavica |
Calotropis gigantea |
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