Parantica aglea

{{Short description|Species of butterfly}} {{Speciesbox | image = Glassy Tiger.jpg | image_caption = Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary, India | image2 = Glassy tiger (Parantica aglea aglea) female underside.jpg | image2_caption = In Sri Lanka<br>both ''P. a. agaea'' | genus = Parantica | species = aglea | authority = (Stoll, 1782) | synonyms = ''Danais aglea'' }} thumb|''P. a. maghaba'', Taiwan

'''''Parantica aglea''''', commonly known as the '''glassy tiger''',<ref name=Smetacek/><ref name=funet/> is a butterfly found in the Indomalayan realm. The species is a member of the Danainae subfamily of the Nymphalidae family.<ref name=Smetacek>{{Cite book|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/287980260|title=A Synoptic Catalogue of the Butterflies of India |last1=Varshney |first1=R.K. |last2=Smetacek|first2=Peter|publisher=Butterfly Research Centre, Bhimtal & Indinov Publishing |year=2015|isbn=978-81-929826-4-9|location=New Delhi|pages=150|doi=10.13140/RG.2.1.3966.2164}}</ref><ref name=funet>{{cite web |last=Savela |first=Markku |url=http://www.nic.funet.fi/pub/sci/bio/life/insecta/lepidoptera/ditrysia/papilionoidea/nymphalidae/danainae/parantica/#aglea |title=''Parantica aglea'' (Stoll, [1782]) |website=Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms |access-date=July 3, 2018}}</ref>

==Description== Several subspecies are recognized. In the British Museum's collection, there are specimens of the true ''Parantica aglea aglea'' from Myanmar, as well as others, indistinguishable from the typical ''Parantica aglea melanoides'', from Mysore.<ref name="bingham"/>

===Subspecies ''Parantica aglea aglea''=== The ground color of this species is a sooty black, with subhyaline bluish-white streaks and spots. On the forewing, the 11th vein is fused with the 12th.

Additionally, the first interspace of the upperside forewing has two relatively long, broad streaks that unite at the base and are truncated outwardly. The cell contains a very broad, somewhat club-shaped streak, traversed by two fine black lines. Interspaces 2 and 3 display basal spots, an irregular discal series of three spots and two elongated streaks, as well as a subterminal series of spots. These two series curve inward opposite the apex of the wing, with the latter continuing along the apical half of the costa. Finally, a terminal row of smaller paired spots appears within the interspaces.

On the hindwing, interspaces 1a and 1b exhibit broad, long streaks extending from the base. Interspace 1 and the cell each contain two streaks that unite at the base, with the pair in the cell having a short streak positioned obliquely between their apices. This is followed by a series of broad, elongate, inwardly pointed spots in interspaces 2–8, and then by somewhat irregular rows of subterminal and terminal spots. The underside is similar, although the markings and spots are sometimes slightly ill-defined and blurred.<ref name="bingham" />

The antennae are black; the head and thorax are black with white spots, and the abdomen is blackish-brown with an ochraceous underside. A male secondary sex mark is present in form 2.<ref name="bingham">{{Source-attribution|sentence=yes|{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/stream/butterfliesvolii00bing#page/18/mode/2up/ |title=Fauna of British India. Butterflies Vol. 2|last=Bingham|first=Charles Thomas|author-link=Charles Thomas Bingham|publisher=Taylor & Francis|year=1907|pages=18–19}}}}</ref><ref name=MooreIndica>{{Source-attribution|sentence=yes|{{Cite book|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/103554#page/73/mode/1up|title=Lepidoptera Indica. Vol. I|last=Moore|first=Frederic|author-link=Frederic Moore|publisher=Lovell Reeve and Co.|year=1890–1892|location=London|pages=55–57}}}}</ref>

===Subspecies ''Parantica aglea melanoides''===

The differences between the northern and eastern forms are as follows: the wings are generally longer and narrower, with hyaline markings, especially in interspace 1 of the forewing and in the cells of both forewing and hindwing, being much broader. In many specimens, the black ground color in these areas is reduced to a thin black line enclosed within the subhyaline marking. On the underside, the streaks are often blurred and diffuse.<ref name="bingham"/> The wingspan ranges from 70 to 100 mm.

==Distribution== The subspecies ''Parantica aglea aglea'' is found in Sri Lanka and the Western Ghats, extending north to Pune and the Niligiris.

''Parantica aglea melanoides'' is distributed across the Himalayas from Kashmir to Nepal, as well as in the Sylhet and Chittagong regions of Bangladesh, in Assam, India, in Myanmar, and in Tenasserim.<ref name="bingham" /> [[File:MooreThe Lepidoptera of CeylonPlate2.jpg|thumb|Plate from Frederic Moore's ''The Lepidoptera of Ceylon'' depicting imago, larva and pupa]]

==Life cycle== ===Food plants=== The dogbanes ''Vincetoxicum bracteatum'' and ''Vincetoxicum dalzellii'' both serve as food plants for the caterpillars.{{Cn|date=August 2024}}

=== Eggs === White, pearl-shaped eggs are laid on the undersides of leaves and hatch after about three days.<ref name=":0" />

===Larva=== The caterpillar is dark claret brown, featuring two round chrome-yellow spots on each segment, with smaller bluish-white spots scattered between them, clustering to form a conspicuous line along the sides. The legs and ventral surface are purplish-black, while the tentacula, positioned as usual on the 3rd and 12th segments, are claret brown.<ref name="bingham"/>

The plants that host ''Parantica aglea'' larvae include ''Calotropis gigantea'', ''Ceropegia bulbosa'', Ceropegia lawii'', Cryptolepis dubia'', ''Vincetoxicum indicum'', and ''Vincetoxicum flexuosum''.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Parantica aglea (Stoll, [1782]) - Glassy Tiger {{!}} Butterfly |url=https://www.ifoundbutterflies.org/parantica-aglea |access-date=2023-06-07 |website=www.ifoundbutterflies.org |language=en}}</ref>

===Pupa=== The pupae of ''Parantica aglea'' are green and spotted with silver, black, and gold, and they have a very tight shape behind the thorax.<ref name="bingham"/><gallery> File:Glassy Tiger Egg 2.jpg|Egg File:Glassy Tiger larva in first instar .jpg|Larva (first instar) File:Glassy Tiger Larva in Last Instar.jpg|Larva (last instar) File:Glassy Tiger Pre-Pupal Larva.jpg|Pre-pupal Larva File:Glassy Tiger Butterfly's Pupa.jpg|Pupa File:Glassy Tiger Newely Emerged Butterfly.jpg|Newly-emerged butterfly </gallery>

==Range== The species is found in the Western Ghats mountains, northeastern India, Sri Lanka, and the Malay Peninsula.<ref name="bingham"/>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== {{Commons}} {{Wikispecies}} *{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20110718051848/http://butterflies.wildreach.com/Parantica_aglea.php Sri Lanka Wild Life Information Database]}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Parantica Aglea}} A Category:Butterflies of Asia Category:Butterflies of Indochina Category:Lepidoptera of Myanmar Category:Lepidoptera of Nepal Category:Butterflies of Sri Lanka Category:Taxa named by Caspar Stoll Category:Butterflies described in 1782