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Butterfly #60 (D. chrysippus)


Butterfly #60 (D. chrysippus)
Photo Information
Copyright: jitti coowanitwong (jcoowanitwong) Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 1679 W: 0 N: 3120] (13754)
Genre: Animals
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2008-03-01
Categories: Insects
Camera: Olympus E510, ZUIKO DIGITAL 70-300mm 1:4-5.6
Exposure: f/4, 1/30 seconds
More Photo Info: [view]
Photo Version: Original Version
Theme(s): Butterflies from Thailand #2 [view contributor(s)]
Date Submitted: 2008-03-01 6:06
Viewed: 4260
Points: 38
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
This is a picture from Suan Rot Fai Butterfly Conservatory.

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Superfamily: Papilionoidea
Family: Nymphalidae
Subfamily: Danainae ("Crows and Tigers")
Tribe: Danaini
Genus: Danaus
Species: D. chrysippus
Common Name: Plain Tiger (ผีเสื้อหนอนใบรักธรรมดา)

The Plain Tiger (Danaus chrysippus) or - outside Asia - African Monarch is a common butterfly which is widespread in Asia and Africa. It belongs to the danaine ("Crows and Tigers") subfamily of the brushfooted butterfly family Nymphalidae.

It is believed to be one of the first butterflies to be used in art. A 3500 year old Egyptian fresco in Luxor features the oldest illustration of this species.

Description

The Plain Tiger is a medium sized butterfly with a wingspan of about 7–8 cm. The body is black with many white spots. The wings are tawny the upper side being brighter and richer than the underside. The apical half of the fore wing is black with a white band. The hind wing has 3 black spots around the center. The hind wing has a thin border of black enclosing a series of semicircular white spots.

Background color and extent of white on the forewings varies somewhat across the wide range; see Systematics and taxonomy below.

The male Plain Tiger is smaller than the female, but more brightly colored. In addition, male danaines have a number of secondary sexual characteristics. In the case of the Plain Tiger, these are:

* The male has a pouch on the hindwing. This spot is white with a thick black border and bulges slightly. It is a cluster of specialised scent scales used to attract females.
* The males possess two brush-like organs which can be pushed out of the tip of the abdomen.

Defense against predators, mimicry

The Plain Tiger is protected from attacks due to the unpalatable alkaloids ingested during the larval stages. // Example of plants that the Plain Tiger feeds during the larval stages are ไฟเดือนห้า (Asclepias curassavica), หงษ์เหิร (A. physocarpa), ข้าวสาร (Phyllanthus columnaris), รัก (Calotropis gigantea), สลิด (Telosma minor) // The butterfly therefore flies slowly and leisurely, generally close to the ground and in a straight line. This gives a would-be predator ample time to recognise and avoid attacking it. Inexperienced predators will try attacking it, but will learn soon enough to avoid this butterfly as the alkoloids in its body cause vomiting.

The butterfly also has a tough, leathery skin to survive such occasional attacks. When attacked it fakes death and oozes nauseating liquid which makes it smell and taste terrible. This encourages the predator to release the butterfly quickly. The Plain Tiger thus has the ability to recover "miraculously" from predator attacks that would kill most other butterflies.

The protection mechanisms of the Plain Tiger, as of the other danaines, and indeed of all colorful unpalatable butterflies, result in predators learning this memorable aspect at first hand. Predators soon associate the patterns and habits of such butterfly species with unpalatability to avoid hunting them in future.

This advantage of protection has led to a number of edible butterfly species, referred to as "mimics", evolving to resemble inedible butterflies, which are referred to as the "model". The resemblance is not only in color, shapes, and markings, but also in behavioural and flight patterns. This form of mimicry - where an edible species mimics an inedible species - is known as Batesian mimicry.

From: Wikipedia

The Plant
Family: BORAGINACEAE
Scientific Name: Heliotropium indicum L.
Common Name: Indian heliotrope,white clary,scorpion weed, หญ้างวงช้างน้อย(ภาคเหนือ); ผักแพวขาว(กาญจนบุรี); กุนอกาโม(มลายู – ปัตตานี)
cataclysta, CeltickRanger, Alex99, jaycee, jusninasirun, pablominto, jmp, mariki, uleko, haraprasan, MMM, izler, SkyF, goldyrs has marked this note useful
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Critiques [Translate]

Hi Jitti
Despite little sharpness problems these is a very good shot. Great composition, perfect OOF background and nice contrast I think that you should do a little sharpening on wings
Best wishes
Krzysztof

hello Jitti

excellent shot of this Butterfly with a great luminosity of the image,
i love your POV and the vertical framing like the Butterfly's pose,
excellent DOF and excellent details of the Butterfly, TFS

Asbed

  • Great 
  • joey Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1739 W: 224 N: 6872] (24909)
  • [2008-03-01 7:51]

Great shot Jitti!
Beautiful colours and great lighting.
Superb composition.
Slightly blurred in areas but other than that a perfect image.
Well done,

Joe

  • Great 
  • jaycee Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2454 W: 10 N: 8044] (25460)
  • [2008-03-01 8:17]

Hi Jitti,

A lovely Monarch who seems to be dangling from the flower. It gives a good view of the colorful wings with the nice markings.

Jane

  • Great 
  • Alex99 Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 4072 W: 133 N: 7096] (23735)
  • [2008-03-01 8:18]

Hi Jitti.
I see your telelens is great for butterfly shooting. Wonderful pleasant colours, great details and sharpness of the beautiful butterfly and superb bokeh. I also like impressive POV, composition of the picture. Perfectly done.
Alexei.

  • Great 
  • arfer Gold Star Critiquer [C: 2731 W: 0 N: 0] (0)
  • [2008-03-01 20:02]

Hello Jitti

A beautiful butterfly shot.
The colours are vivid and bright.
Well focused with good textures and sharpness.
The POV is very good.
I look forward to seeing some butterflies around here in a few weeks.
TFS

Hello Jitti. This is another brilliant post from a very skillful photographer. I like the colorful wings captured in excellent sharpness and contrasting colors. Gorgeous pattern right to the body. Nicely perched against blurry background. Thanks for sharing this wonderful capture and have a nice day. Regards. Jusni

Hello JC,
I like the composition, and the details in the wing pattern is very well reproduced!
Fine light and attractive colours, DOF spot on isolates the insect well from the background...
Greetings,
Pablo -

Ciao Jitti,
una magnifica foto di questa specie!
La messa a fuoco sulle ali è perfetta.
I colori e la luce sono naturali e assai gradevoli.
Complimenti,
Marcello

  • Great 
  • jmp Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1659 W: 95 N: 2273] (8415)
  • [2008-03-02 11:38]

Hi Jitti,
A perfect pov and pose of this beautiful butterfly. Colours are excellent.
TFS, José M.

Hello Jitti,

Beautiful composition and POV. Good sharpness. Nice light and wonderful colours. You chose a rather long exposure time and it seems that the butterfly was moving its wings.
Cheers,
Mariki

  • Great 
  • Mana Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1772 W: 36 N: 5597] (18598)
  • [2008-03-03 0:37]

Hi Jitti,
Wonderful shot of this absolutely beautiful Plain Tiger in a fabulous pose. Outstanding sharpness, colours, details and clarity. The lighting and exposure levels are superb and I like your chosen POV to portray it. Very nicely composed. Kudos.
TFS.
Sumon

  • Great 
  • uleko Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 3396 W: 172 N: 3310] (10940)
  • [2008-03-03 6:21]

Hello Jitti,
This is a very beautiful capture! The butterfly looks really fresh and the sharp details and colours stand out very nicely against the soft background. An excellent composition!
Many thanks, Ulla

Hi Jitti,
A nice capture of this plain tiger. Excellent composition and details. Thanks a lot for sharing.

Bonjour,
Voilà un spécimen bien conservé.
Bonne journée.
clnaef

  • Great 
  • MMM Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 1114 W: 0 N: 2546] (11425)
  • [2008-03-04 7:23]

Hello JItti
Great closed up.Excellent POV and sharp image.I like that vertical presentation.Good light and lovely OOF BG
TFS Michel

  • Great 
  • izler Gold Star Critiquer [C: 1387 W: 3 N: 9] (44)
  • [2008-03-05 10:13]

hello Jitti
well close-up working on this beautiful plain tiger
i like composition, point of view, lighting, colours and note
thanks for sharing
regards
izler

  • Great 
  • SkyF Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2234 W: 188 N: 1912] (8073)
  • [2008-03-05 12:09]

Hi Jitti,
colorful and eye catching composition. Love the vibrancy of this image and the sharpness goes along with it.
Great work, great to look at on a snowy day.
Sky

Jitti,
A wonderful shot, very sharp and some excellent colours and nice POV!!!
TFS!
Cheers!
Goldy

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