Plain Tiger butterfly (1 Viewer)

Hi all;
in 2001 I was working in Spain for some weeks in October. There , in the region between Almeri and Alicante I saw a large danaid butterfly, slightly smaller and differently coloured, but still quite similar to the Monarch, but clearly not that species. I saw several individuals and using the Collins, the species that fit exactly, was the Plain Tiger Danaus chrysippus. That species is not stated as living there and also not stated as migratory in that book, so I want to ask, if the range of the species given in the book is incorrect or has recently changed.

Jörn

Hi Joern,
It's an unfortunate fact of life that books are always out of date by the time they are published. No more so when they describe the distribution of insect species. It can take months or even years for an author to find a publisher for such a book, and during that time major changes in distribution can take place.

Does your guide show all of the European species of Butterfly? many guides do not do so, often they only show what the author thinks that an entomologist may see during a short holiday or casual visit.

There are several such 'General Interest' insect books available in the UK, but these only show a relatively small number of representative species of each Order.
This can be a real pain for County Recorders who have to go to great lengths to get a correct identification, if they can get one at all.

Sorry I can't help you with that particular species, I know little of the Lepidoptera of Europe.

Regards,

Harry Eales.

My book shows plain tiger as occurring along the Mediterranean coastline of Spain.
(I imagine that you can ignore false plain tiger (Hypolimnas misippus) which is a 'powerful migrant'?)
Ken

Hi Harry,
as i also work with insects i also know these problems, but the Collins guide is really good and shows nearly all european butterflies except some recently discovered with quite small ranges and all "European "Danaidae (2), so there is no doubt it was that species. Maybe the rane description was inaccurate or the species has extended its range.

Hi Ken, it was clearly Plain Tiger (Danaus chrysippus); but for this species the Collins only gives a written statement on distribution (Canary Islands, North Africa); no map!
So which book do you use?


Joern

Hi, Joern,
I have "Butterflies of Europe" by Tolman and Lewington, Princeton University Press, 1997 (bought from Amazon.fr)
ISBN 0-691-09074-2

Thanks, Ken-
will have a look at it-probably it´s going to be quite expensive here, as with most foreign books...

Try Amazon.de
You never know!