Danaus plexippus, (LINNAEUS, 1758)

Smith, David A. S., Lushai, Gugs & Allen, John A., 2005, A classification of Danaus butterflies (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) based upon data from morphology and DNA, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 144 (2), pp. 191-212 : 204

DANAUS PLEXIPPUS ( LINNAEUS, 1758)

Polytypic species (A & V-W) with two subspecies ( Forbes, 1939; Clark, 1941; Williams et al., 1942; Urquhart, 1960; fig. 43, for a map of subspecies ranges in the Americas; Smith, Miller & Miller, 1994).

ssp. plexippus ( Linnaeus, 1758)

Type locality: USA , New York State. Range : N America to 50∞N in summer, migrating south to California and Mexico to over-winter; also Canary Is., Madeira, Azores, Bermuda , many Pacific islands , including Galapagos Is., Hawaii, New Zealand, Australia, Moluccas, Philippines, Taiwan .

ssp. megalippe (Hübner, 1826)

Type locality: uncertain but probably USA, Georgia ( Brown & Heineman, 1972). Range: USA ( Georgia, Florida), West Indies, Central & South America north of the Amazon drainage; this subspecies is not migratory. We agree with Urquhart (1960), Brown & Heineman (1972) and Smith et al. (1994) that the following ‘subspecies’ are not geographical entities but mere colour varieties of megalippe: leucogyne (Butler, 1884), portoricensis ( Clark, 1941) and tobagi ( Clark, 1941).