Lesser Wanderer DANAINAE, NYMPHALIDAE, PAPILIONOIDEA | (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley |
(Photo: courtesy of Jutta Godwin,
Cubberla-Witton Catchments Network,
Brisbane, Queensland)
This species was probably named after the Ancient Greek city of Petilia.
The Caterpillar of this species is banded with black and yellow, and has yellow spots all over. It also has three pairs of filaments which in later instars have red bases.
The caterpillar feeds on various plants that have a poisonous milky sap. The caterpillar appears to retain the poisons in its body making it unpalatable to predators.
In Australia, its foods are all from the Milkweed family (APOCYNACEAE), and include :
The Caterpillar grows to a length of about 3 cms.
The pupa hangs by its tail from a leaf of the foodplant, and has a length of about 1.5 cms. In life, it is greenish-brown with a golden ring around the thorax. The skin turns brown once the butterfly has left the pupa.
The adult butterflies are orange with wide black borders around the wings, and a variable number of white spots in the black tips of the forewings. The head is black with white spots, and the thorax black with a white dorsal line. The abdomen is brown. The butterflies only have four legs.
The male has a more prominent black markings near the centre of each hind wing. The undersides are similar to the upper surfaces. The wingspan is about 6 cms.
The eggs are pale yellow and bullet-shaped. They are laid singly on young growth of a foodplant.
The species occurs as various subspecies in the South-West Pacific region including in
as well as being found over the whole of Australia, including
Distinguishing the Australian Danaus petilia from the Afro-Asian Danaus chrysippus is possible by noting that in Danaus petilia:
Butterflies of this species may be purchased for release at weddings etc.
Further reading :
Michael F. Braby,
Butterflies of Australia,
CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 2000, vol. 2, pp. 593-594.
Wesley Jenkinson,
Frank Jordan & Helen Schwencke,
John T. Moss,
Buck Richardson,
Caspar Stoll,
(updated 20 January 2011, 13 August 2024)
Life history notes on the Lesser Wanderer, Danaus petilia
(Stoll, 1790) Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae,
Butterflies and Other Invertebrates Club,
Metamorphosis Australia,
Issue 88 (March 2018), pp. 9-12.
Create More Butterflies : a guide to 48 butterflies and their host-plants
Earthling Enterprises, Brisbane, 2005, p. 29.
Focus on the Lesser Wanderer butterfly, Danaus petilia
(Stoll, 1790) Lepidoptera: Danainae: its name, origins, distribution, hosts, congeners, and mimics,
Butterflies and Other Invertebrates Club,
Metamorphosis Australia,
Issue 88 (March 2018), pp. 4-9.
Tropical Queensland Wildlife from Dusk to Dawn Science and Art,
LeapFrogOz, Kuranda, 2015, p. 223.
Papillons exotiques,
in Pieter Cramer:
De uitlandsche kapellen, voorkomende in de drie waereld,
Supplement (1791), pp. 132-133, and also
Plate 28, fig. 3.
caterpillar
butterflies
Lepidoptera
moths
caterpillar