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Danainae Boisduval 1833

Niklas Wahlberg and Andrew V. Z. Brower
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taxon links [up-->]Danaini [up-->]Tellervini [up-->]Ithomiini [down<--]Nymphalidae Interpreting the tree
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This tree diagram shows the relationships between several groups of organisms.

The root of the current tree connects the organisms featured in this tree to their containing group and the rest of the Tree of Life. The basal branching point in the tree represents the ancestor of the other groups in the tree. This ancestor diversified over time into several descendent subgroups, which are represented as internal nodes and terminal taxa to the right.

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Containing group: Nymphalidae

Introduction

The name Danainae is here applied to the clade inclusive of the pantropical milkweed butterflies ("Danaidae" of authors), the neotropical clearwing butterflies ("Ithomiidae" of authors), and the monogeneric Australasian Tellervo, which has commonly been accorded subfamilial rank. Larvae of all three possess thoracic tubercles and are associated with apocynaceous larval hostplants, at least among basal members of each group. All are aposematic as adults and many serve as models or co-mimics in mimicry complexes.

Discussion of Phylogenetic Relationships

These groups have traditionally been united by similarities of hostplant use–basal members of each group are associated with Asclepiadaceae and/or Apocynaceae (Ackery 1988). Molecular evidence supporting their close relationship has been found by Brower (2000), and morphological synapomorphies by Freitas and Brown (2004).

References

Ackery PR. 1988. Hostplants and classification: a review of nymphalid butterflies. Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 33: 95-203.

Brower AVZ. 2000. Phylogenetic relationships among the Nymphalidae (Lepidoptera) inferred from partial sequences of the wingless gene. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 267: 1201-1211.

Freitas AVL, and Brown KSJ. 2004. Phylogeny of the Nymphalidae (Lepidoptera). Systematic Biology 53: 363-383.

Title Illustrations
Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window

The photos above illustrate representatives of the three danaine clades:

Scientific Name Ideopsis similis
Location Taiwan
Specimen Condition Live Specimen
Source IMG_7755al1
Source Collection Flickr
Image Use creative commons This media file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License - Version 2.0.
Copyright © 2006 leemt2
Scientific Name Tellervo zoilus
Location Queensland, Australia
Specimen Condition Dead Specimen
Identified By Darrell Kemp
Image Use creative commons This media file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License - Version 3.0.
Copyright © Niklas Wahlberg
Scientific Name Greta morgane
Location captive, Bedford Butterfly Park
Specimen Condition Live Specimen
Source Glass Wing
Source Collection Flickr
Image Use creative commons This media file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs License - Version 2.0.
Copyright © 2006 Bill Hails
About This Page

Niklas Wahlberg
University of Turku, Finland


Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, USA

Correspondence regarding this page should be directed to Niklas Wahlberg at and Andrew V. Z. Brower at

Page: Tree of Life Danainae Boisduval 1833. Authored by Niklas Wahlberg and Andrew V. Z. Brower. The TEXT of this page is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License - Version 3.0. Note that images and other media featured on this page are each governed by their own license, and they may or may not be available for reuse. Click on an image or a media link to access the media data window, which provides the relevant licensing information. For the general terms and conditions of ToL material reuse and redistribution, please see the Tree of Life Copyright Policies.

Citing this page:

Wahlberg, Niklas and Andrew V. Z. Brower. 2008. Danainae Boisduval 1833. Version 27 October 2008 (under construction). http://tolweb.org/Danainae/12187/2008.10.27 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/

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This page is a Tree of Life Branch Page.

Each ToL branch page provides a synopsis of the characteristics of a group of organisms representing a branch of the Tree of Life. The major distinction between a branch and a leaf of the Tree of Life is that each branch can be further subdivided into descendent branches, that is, subgroups representing distinct genetic lineages.

For a more detailed explanation of the different ToL page types, have a look at the Structure of the Tree of Life page.

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