prominent markings with a striking colour pattern. The striped tiger is mimicked by both sexes of the Indian Tamil lacewing (Cethosia nietneri mahratta) and the leopard lacewing (Cethosia cyane) and females of the common palmfly (Elymnias hypermnestra). Life history This butterfly lays its egg singly under the leaves of any of its host plants of family Asclepiadaceae. The caterpillar is black and marked with bluish-white and yellow spots and lines. It has three pairs of tentacles on its body. It first eats the eggshell and then proceeds to eat leaves and vegetative parts of the plant. The chrysalis (pupa) is green and marked with golden-yellow spots. The caterpillar of the common tiger butterfly obtains a supply of poison by eating poisonous plants, which make the caterpillar and butterfly a distasteful morsel for predators. The most common food plants of the common tiger in peninsular India are small herbs, twiners and creepers from the family Asclepiadaceae, including: Asclepias curassavica Ceropegia intermedia Cynanchum dalhousieae Raphistemma pulchellum Stephanotis species (including S. floribunda?) Tylophora tenuis Subspecies It has some 16 subspecies; its evolutionary relationships are not completely resolved, but it appears to be closest to the Malay tiger (D. affinis) and white tiger. D. g. genutia (India to China, Sri Lanka, Andamans, Nicobars, Peninsular Malaya, Thailand, Langkawi, Singapore, Indochina, Taiwan, Hainan) D. g. sumatrana Moore, 1883 (western and north-eastern Sumatra) D. g. intermedia (Moore, 1883) D. g. conspicua Butler, 1866 (southern Sulawesi) D. g. niasicus Fruhstorfer, 1899 (Nias) D. g. intensa (Moore, 1883) (Java, Bali, Bawean, Borneo) D. g. partita (Fruhstorfer, 1897) (Lesser Sunda) D. g. leucoglene C. & R. Felder, 1865 (northern Sulawesi) D. g. tychius Fruhstorfer, 1910 (Selajar) D. g. telmissus Fruhstorfer, 1910 (Butong Island) D. g. wetterensis (Fruhstorfer, 1899) (Wetar Island, Timor) D. g. laratensis (Butler, 1883) (Tanimbar Island) D. g. kyllene Fruhstorfer, 1910 (Damar Island, Kai Island) D. g. alexis (Waterhouse & Lyell, 1914) (Northern Territory to north-western Australia) See also Danainae Nymphalidae List of butterflies of India List of butterflies of India (Nymphalidae) References Bhuyan, M.; Deka, M.; Kataki, D. & Bhattacharyya, P. R. (2005). Nectar host plant selection and floral probing by the Indian butterfly Danaus genutia (Nymphalidae). Journal of Research on the Lepidoptera 38: 79–84. PDF fulltext . Smith, David A. S.; Lushai, Gugs & Allen, John A. (2005). A classification of Danaus butterflies (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) based upon data from morphology and DNA. Zool. J. Linn. Soc.