White tree nymph
| White tree nymph | ||||||||||||
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White tree nymph ( Idea leuconoe ) |
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| Idea leuconoe | ||||||||||||
| ( Erichson , 1834) |
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The white tree nymph ( Idea leuconoe ) is a large white butterfly ( butterfly ) with black markings from the noble butterfly family (Nymphalidae), which is often shown in butterfly zoos. The species is widespread in Southeast Asia up to an altitude of about 800 m . Due to clear differences in the number of antennae-shaped, fleshy appendages of the caterpillars of individual subspecies, it could be a species complex .
features
butterfly
The adults reach a wingspan of 95 to 115 millimeters. They have slightly transparent, white wings, the wing veins are colored black. They also have black spots, especially along the outer edge of the forewings, but also elsewhere on the wings. About in the middle of the front edge of the forewings there is a large black spot and further outside another smaller one. The outer edge is broadly black, with white spots in it.
The male moths have, in addition to the pair of tufts of hair typical of the tribe, which can be expelled from the abdomen, a smaller pair typical of the genus lying above them. The shaft of the smaller one is coupled to the shaft of the larger one.
egg
The surface of the pale yellow to slightly pink, oval eggs is covered with a honeycomb pattern of small depressions. About 15 honeycombs lie on top of each other and 21 run around the axis. There are two rings of much smaller depressions around the micropyle .
Caterpillar
The caterpillars carry the fleshy tendrils typical of the Danainae subfamily in pairs on the mesothorax , metathorax and abdominal segment 2 and 8. On abdominal segment 7, only the subspecies Idea leuconoe riukiuensis have short fleshy appendages , all other subspecies have only a pair of small buds. Idea leuconoe nigriana also has short processes on abdominal segment 3 to 6.
The black caterpillars have white horizontal stripes at the segment boundaries and laterally red spots between the white stripes from the thorax to the 8th abdominal segment. The width of the horizontal stripes and the size of the spots vary depending on the subspecies and within the subspecies, sometimes they are completely absent in some segments. Idea leuconoe clara can have both narrow and broad white rings and, apart from large spots on abdominal segments 2, 6 and 7, only small red spots. There are also caterpillars of the subspecies in which all spots are well developed and almost the same size.
Doll
The shiny fall doll has an orange-yellow to gold base color and is speckled with black. A band of black dots runs on the side of the thorax, sometimes so large that they merge into one another. Distributed black dots on the abdomen form several lateral rows. On the head and the edges of the wing sheaths there are several sometimes weak black lines. The wing sheaths have very few small black marks.
mimicry
The white tree nymph serves the rare knight butterfly Graphium idaeoides in the Philippines as a model for mimicry . Graphium idaeoides differs from the white tree nymph by a slightly wavy outer edge of the hind wings and six instead of four legs. The front pair of legs of the white tree nymph is, typical for noble butterflies, reduced to cleaning paws that sit directly on the head.
Occurrence
The distribution area of the white tree nymph extends in Southeast Asia from the south of Burma , Thailand and Cambodia to Malaysia and parts of Indonesia ( Sumatra and Borneo ), the Philippines to Taiwan and the Ryūkyū Islands .
The moths are often kept in butterfly zoos, where they can reach an age of 19 to 104 days.
habitat
The moths are typical forest dwellers that can also be found in secondary forests. Besides Idea agamarschana , the white tree nymph is the only species of the genus that can be found in mangrove forests. The vertical distribution ranges from coastal regions, where it is particularly common, to up to 800 meters above sea level. NN on.
Way of life
The flight of the moths looks clumsy and awkward. They hardly seem able to control their large wings with their weak muscles. This impression is deceptive, as they can also fly quickly, although they have a slow wing beat. Individual moths fly slowly and often sail under the canopy or over seedlings at a height of five to 10 meters. They occasionally sail to the ground in clearings and on paths. They often rest on protruding branches and rarely visit flowers. The moths are gregarious and sometimes fly around certain trees, although it is not known what attracts them.
Due to their excellent coordination, courtship males can hover in one place for minutes. They remain about 30 cm above a female sitting in the vegetation and fan pheromones (viridifloric β- lactone and danaidone ) from their tufts of hair with their flapping wings . The pheromones are formed from alkaloids that the caterpillars ingest through the food plants. The females recognize suitable plants of the genus Parsonsia for oviposition, in the case of Parsonsia laevigata by the pyrrolizidine alkaloids parsonsianin , parsonsianidin and 17-methylparsonsianidin , while the similar parsonin plays no role.
Way of life of the caterpillars
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From the first to the early third instar the caterpillars eat circular holes in the leaves of the food plants and feed on the tissue at this incision. In the fourth and fifth instar, the caterpillars first bite through the petiole before starting to feed away from the previous feeding sites. In the mangroves of Brunei , the caterpillars of the white tree nymph build a yellow ring of foam around the feeding points on the leaves of Parsonsia spiralis in the first to third stages. The foam ring protects you from the weaver ant Oecophylla smarigdina for up to 6 hours until it dries up and becomes ineffective. If an ant encounters such a ring when the caterpillar is not moving, it will recoil, clean its antennae and continue looking elsewhere. If, on the other hand, the caterpillar moves within the ring, the ant becomes aware of it and tries up to five times to overcome the foam. She usually does not succeed in this and she cleans her antennae and legs and also looks for food elsewhere. Foam rings that are no older than two hours can withstand 10 to 17 such attacks. Within the subfamily Danainae, this behavior is only known from Euploea crameri , which occurs in the same area . This behavior is also known in the genus Stauronema from the family of sawfly (Tenthredinidae), which shows that this behavior has developed independently of one another at least twice.
Food of the caterpillars
The caterpillars feed on Parsonsia helicandra , Parsonsia spiralis and Parsonsia laevigata from the family of the dog poison plants (Apocynaceae) and Cynanchum formosanum and Tylophora hispida from the family of the silk plants (Asclepiadoideae). These plants contain alkaloids that are toxic to vertebrates such as parsonin (C 15 H 21 NO 5 ) in the case of Parsonsia laevigata .
Subspecies
Many subspecies of the white tree nymph have been described, the occurrence of which is often limited to individual islands.
- Idea leuconoe siamensis ( Godfrey , 1916): Thailand, Cambodia and very southern Burma
- Idea leuconoe chersonesia ( Fruhstorfer , 1898): Malaysia ( Tioman ), Sumatra, Bangka , Riau Islands , Lingga Archipelago , Belitung , Krakatau
- Idea leuconoe natunensis Snellen , 1895: Natuna Islands
- Idea leuconoe nigriana Grose-Smith , 1895: Borneo, Banggi , Taganak
- Idea leuconoe princesa Staudinger , 1889: Palawan
- Idea leuconoe vicetia Fruhstorfer , 1911: Dumaran
- Idea leuconoe gordita Fruhstorfer , 1911: Mindoro , Ticao
- Idea leuconoe solyma Fruhstorfer , 1910: Bayuyan
- Idea leuconoe athesis Fruhstorfer , 1911: Polillo Archipelago
- Idea leuconoe obscura Staudinger , 1889: Negros , Panay , Leyte , Bohol , Mindanao , Dinagat , Basilan
- Idea leuconoe samara Fruhstorfer , 1910: Samar
- Idea leuconoe fregela Fruhstorfer , 1911: Siargao
- Idea leuconoe princesa Staudinger , 1889: Sulu Archipelago
- Idea leuconoe clara ( Butler , 1867): Taiwan
- Idea leuconoe kwashotoensis ( Sonan , 1928): on the Taiwanese islands Lü Dao and Lan Yu ("Orchid Island")
- Idea leuconoe riukiuensis Holland , 1893: on the Japanese Ryūkyū Islands ( Kikaijima )
- Idea leuconoe godmani Oberthür , 1878: Sangihe
- Idea leuconoe esanga Fruhstorfer , 1898: Talaud Islands
- Idea leuconoe lasiaka van Eecke , 1913: Simeuluë
- Idea leuconoe vedana Fruhstorfer , 1906: Nias , Batu Islands
- Idea leuconoe engania : ( Doherty , 1891) Enggano
- Idea leuconoe karimondjawae van Eecke , 1933: Karimunjawa
- Idea leuconoe gamaoi Jumalon , 1975: Cebu
- Idea leuconoe moira Fruhstorfer, 1910
- Idea leuconoe caesena Fruhstorfer , 1911
- Idea leuconoe javana Fruhstorfer , 1896
literature
- Richard Irwin Vane-Wright & PR Ackery (Eds.): Milkweed Butterflies. Their Cladistics and Biology . Cornell University Press, Ithaca and London 1984, ISBN 0-8014-1688-4 (425 pages).
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Milkweed Butterflies, page 65
- ↑ a b Milkweed Butterflies, page 57
- ↑ Milkweed Butterflies, page 408
- ↑ Milkweed butterflies, page 326ff
- ↑ Milkweed Butterflies, page 59
- ↑ a b Milkweed Butterflies, page 237f
- ↑ Milkweed Butterflies, page 76
- ↑ R. Nishida, S. Schulz, CS Kim, H. Fukami, Y. Kuwahara, K. Honda & N. Hayashi: Male Sex Pheromone Of A Giant Danaine Butterfly, Idea leuconoe , Journal of Chemical Ecology, Volume 22, No. 5, 1996
- ↑ Keiichi Honda, Nanao Hayashi, Fumiko Abe and Tatsuo Yamauchi: Pyrrolizidine Alkaloids Mediate Host-Plant Recognition by Ovipositing Females of an Old World Danaid Butterfly, Idea leuconoe , Journal of Chemical Ecology, 2004, pages 1703-1713
- ^ Foam barriers, a new defense against ants for milkweed butterfly caterpillars (Nymphalidae: Danainae) . In: PJ DeVries (Ed.): Journal of Research on the Lepidoptera . tape 30 , no. 3-4 , 1991, pp. 261–266 ( PDF [accessed January 23, 2009]).
- ^ R. Hegnauer: Chemotaxonomie der Pflanzen: an overview of the distribution and the systematic importance of plant substances, Birkhäuser, 1992, ISBN 3-7643-2578-X , page 698
- ↑ Milkweed Butterflies, page 120ff
- ↑ Idea leuconoe in Markku Savela: Lepidoptera and some other life forms
