Euploea sylvester

Double-branded crow
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Nymphalidae
Genus: Euploea
Species: E. sylvester
Binomial name
Euploea sylvester
(Fabricius, 1793)

Euploea sylvester, the double-branded crow, also known as the two-brand crow in Australia, is a butterfly found in South Asia, Southeast Asia and parts of Australia that belongs to the crows and yigers, that is, the danaid group of the brush-footed butterflies family.

Several races of the butterfly are recognized. Race pelor is found in Australia.[1]

Description

at Bangalore

In shape, colour, and markings, it very closely resembles Euploea core. Males, however, can be distinguished at once by the presence of two brands instead of a single one on the forewing. Of the females Lionel de Nicéville says, females of E. coreta can be separated from the females of E. core by the following points: "First by the outline of the forewing being more entire; in core it is slightly but perceptibly scalloped- Second, by the underside of the forewing having a complete series of six spots, one between each pair of nervules outside the cell; in core two of these spots, those above the discoidal nervules (veins 5 and 6), are always wanting. Third, the two brands on the interno-median area (interspace 1) of the forewing in the male are faintly but quite perceptibly to be traced in the female in the same position."[2]

Museum specimen from Malaya

Larval food plants

The double-banded crow feeds on plants of the families Apocynaceae (Dogbanes and Oleanders), Asclepiadaceae (Milkweeds) and Moraceae (Figs)and the specific species are Ficus obliqua, Ficus microcarpa, Ficus racemosa, Gymnema sylvestre and Ichnocarpus frutescens [3]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Meyer, C.E. (1997) Notes on the life history and variation in adult forms of Euploea sylvester pelor Doubleday (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Danainae), The Australian Entomologist. 24(2):73-77.
  2. ↑ Bingham, C.T. (1905). The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma Butterflies. 1 (1st ed.). London: Taylor and Francis, Ltd.
  3. ↑ HOSTS - a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants (http://www.nhm.ac.uk/research-curation/projects/hostplants/) accessed on September 12, 2007.
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