Tirumala limniace


Tirumala limniace, the blue tiger, is a butterfly found in South Asia and Southeast Asia that belongs to the crows and tigers, that is, the danaid group of the brush-footed butterfly family. This butterfly shows gregarious migratory behaviour in southern India.

Description

In general, all butterflies can directly absorb heat from the sun via their wings to facilitate autonomous flight. Studies on blue tiger butterflies show that high-intensity light significantly increased flight activity. Blue tiger butterflies have a wing surface color that is composed of both light and dark colors. The dark areas on the wing surfaces are the heat absorption areas that allow for the facilitation of autonomous flight.

Life cycle

Food plants

The butterfly larva generally feed on plants of family Asclepiadaceae. The recorded host plants are:
Yellowish white; 3rd and 12th segments, each with a pair of fleshy filaments, black and greenish white; each of the segments with four transverse black bars, the second bar on all broader than the others, bifurcated laterally, a yellow longitudinal line on each side; head, feet and claspers spotted with black. The larva is around in length and weighs around initially, but grows double that size and four times that weight within 48 hours.

Pupa

"Green with golden scattered spots and beaded dorsal crescent".

Range

The species is distributed in South Asia and Southeast Asia. In 2019, a single adult specimen was reported from the Balearic Islands, marking it the first record of the species in Europe.

Subspecies

Listed alphabetically:
This species migrates extensively during the monsoons in southern India. The migratory populations have been observed to consist nearly entirely of males. It is also known to mud-puddle during migration.

Gallery of life cycle