Euploea alcathoe

No-brand crow
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Nymphalidae
Genus:	Euploea
Species:	E. alcathoe
Binomial name
Euploea alcathoe (Godart, [1819])[1]
Synonyms
Danais alcathoe Godart, [1819] Euploea enastri Fenner, 1991 Stictoploea aethiopina Grose-Smith, 1894 Euploea aethiops Butler, 1866 Euploea boreas Miskin, 1890 Euploea alecto barsine Fruhstorfer, 1904 Euploea barea Fruhstorfer, 1911 Euploea faesula Fruhstorfer, 1910 Euploea fidena Fruhstorfer, 1915 Euploea harrisii Moore, 1883 Euploea latreillei Kirsch, 1877 Euploea lygdania Fruhstorfer, 1910 Euploea melancholica Butler, 1866 Gamatoba melinda Grose-Smith, 1894 Euploea monaeses Fruhstorfer, 1910 Euploea nymphas Fruhstorfer, 1910 Euploea occulta Butler, 1877 Euploea pheres Fruhstorfer, 1910 Euploea reaumuri Oberthür, 1878 Euploea rotschildiana Hulstaert, 1923 Euploea tamis Fruhstorfer, 1910 Euploea eichhorni Staudinger, 1884 Euploea alecto Butler, 1866 Euploea pierretii C. & R. Felder, [1865] Gamatoba monilifera Moore, 1883 Euploea misenus Miskin, 1890

Euploea alcathoe, commonly known as the no-brand crow, Eichhorn's crow or striped black crow, is a common butterfly found from India to Borneo, and in the Moluccas, New Guinea and Australia. It belongs to the crows and tigers subfamily of the Nymphalidae (brushfooted butterflies).

The wingspan is about 80 millimetres (3.1 in). Adults are black, fading somewhat towards the wing margins. There are arcs of white spots at each forewing apex and around each hindwing termen.^[2] The butterflies keep to within 3 metres (9.8 ft) of the ground and they can be found in patches of sun underneath the forest canopy where they alight on understory leaves and small twigs.^[3]

The larvae feed on Nerium indicum, Nerium oleander, Mandevilla, Asclepias, Hoya australis, Marsdenia australis, Ficus platypoda, Gymnanthera oblonga and Ficus obliqua in Australia.^[4] The larvae of the endangered Gove subspecies, Euploea alcathoe enastri, also feed on the vines of Parsonsia alboflavescens,^[5] and Tylophora benthamii.^[3] Young larvae are pale orange with four pairs of black tentacles (filaments). Later instars develop a black and white pair of bands and several black bars on each abdominal segment. Full-grown larvae reach a length of 50 millimetres (2.0 in).

Euploea alcathoe adults are most common in the monsoonal wet season between December and May in Australia, and there may be several generations over the course of a year.^[3]

Subspecies

• Euploea alcathoe alcathoe
• Euploea alcathoe eichhorni Staudinger, 1884 (Cape York to Ingham)^[3]
• Euploea alcathoe enastri (Gove Peninsula)^[3]
• Euploea alcathoe alecto Butler, 1866 (Buru, Ambon, Serang)
• Euploea alcathoe zodica Fruhstorfer, 1904 (Obi)
• Euploea alcathoe pierretii C. & R. Felder, [1865] (West Irian)
• Euploea alcathoe macgregori Kirby, 1889 (D'Entrecasteaux Islands)
• Euploea alcathoe diadema Moore, 1883 (Papua, Goodenough)
• Euploea alcathoe coffea Fruhstorfer, 1910 (eastern New Guinea, Karkar Island)
• Euploea alcathoe samaraina Carpenter, 1953 (south-eastern Papua New Guinea: Samarai Island)
• Euploea alcathoe monilifera (Moore, 1883) (Cape York, Thursday Island)^[3]

Conservation

The subspecies enastri of the Gove Peninsula is classified as endangered. Males have been collected from glades in rainforest and females from adjacent paperbark swampland. It is threatened by habitat destruction and degradation by water buffalo and feral pigs, and by invasion of its environment by the yellow crazy ant (Anoplolepis gracilipes).^[5]

References

1. Euploea at funet.fi
2. Australian Insects
3. Braby, Michael F. (2004). Complete Field Guide to Butterflies of Australia. Collingwood, Victoria: CSIRO Publishing. pp. 194–95. ISBN 0-643-09027-4.
4. Kitching, Roger Laurence (1999). Biology of Australian butterflies. Collingwood, Victoria: CSIRO Publishing. p. 198. ISBN 0-643-05027-2.
5. Braby, Michael; Wilson, Colin (December 2006). "Threatened Species of the Northern Territory: Gove Crow Euploea alcathoe enastri" (PDF). Retrieved 12 December 2011.