Danaini | |
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"Tiger butterflies" of genera Ideopsis (top), Danaus (lower center/left) and Parantica (others) | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Order: | Lepidoptera |
Family: | Nymphalidae |
Subfamily: | Danainae |
Tribe: | Danaini Boisduval, 1833[1] |
Diversity | |
2 subtribes, 11 extant genera |
The Danaini are a tribe of brush-footed butterflies (family Nymphalidae). The tribe's type genus Danaus contains the well-known monarch butterfly (D. plexippus) and is also the type genus of the tribe's subfamily, the milkweed butterflies (Danainae).
The Danaini do not have a fixed colloquial name for the entire tribe, but in particular for subtribe Danaina the term tiger butterflies is occasionally used in reference to the numerous species in several genera.
Subtribe Danaina Boisduval, [1833][2]
Subtribe Euploeina Moore, [1880]
The fossil milkweed butterfly Archaeolycorea from the Oligocene or Miocene Tremembé Formation of Brazil is often assigned to this tribe, specifically the Euploeina. Whether this is correct is not entirely certain.