No-brand crow

Euploea alcathoe

''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 .

The wingspan is about 80 millimetres . Adults are black, fading somewhat towards the wing margins. There are arcs of white spots at each forewing apex and around each hindwing termen. The butterflies keep to within 3 metres 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.

The larvae feed on ''Nerium indicum'', ''Nerium oleander'', ''Mandevilla'', ''Asclepias'', ''Hoya australis'', ''Marsdenia australis'', ''Ficus platypoda'', ''Gymnanthera oblonga'' and ''Ficus obliqua'' in Australia. The larvae of the endangered Gove subspecies, ''Euploea alcathoe enastri'', also feed on the vines of ''Parsonsia alboflavescens'', and ''Tylophora benthamii''. Young larvae are pale orange with four pairs of black tentacles . 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 .

''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.
Euploea alcathoe eichhorni Advanced pupa Australia,Euploea,Euploea alcathoe,Euploea alcathoe eichhorni,Geotagged,No-brand crow

Naming

*''Euploea alcathoe alcathoe''
⤷ ''Euploea alcathoe eichhorni'' Staudinger, 1884
⤷ ''Euploea alcathoe enastri''
⤷ ''Euploea alcathoe alecto'' Butler, 1866
⤷ ''Euploea alcathoe zodica'' Fruhstorfer, 1904
⤷ ''Euploea alcathoe pierretii'' C. & R. Felder, [1865]
⤷ ''Euploea alcathoe macgregori'' Kirby, 1889
⤷ ''Euploea alcathoe diadema'' Moore, 1883
⤷ ''Euploea alcathoe coffea'' Fruhstorfer, 1910
⤷ ''Euploea alcathoe samaraina'' Carpenter, 1953
⤷ ''Euploea alcathoe monilifera''
Euploea alcathoe eichhorni A tropical butterfly begins as a black and white striped caterpillar with four pairs of tubercles .
I collected this specimen as it  was so close tp pupation and documented its metamorphosis into an adult butterfly.   Australia,Euploea,Euploea alcathoe,Euploea alcathoe eichhorni,Geotagged,No-brand crow

Status

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 .

References:

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Taxonomy
KingdomAnimalia
DivisionArthropoda
ClassInsecta
OrderLepidoptera
FamilyNymphalidae
GenusEuploea
SpeciesE. alcathoe
Photographed in
Australia