Bug FAQCommon Tiger Butterfly
Danaus genutia · Order: Lepidoptera · Family: Nymphalidae
Also called: Striped Tiger Butterfly, Orange Tiger, Striped Tiger, common tiger
The common tiger butterfly has a wingspan of about 7 to 9.5 cm and tawny wings with black-veined patterns and two rows of white spots along the black margins. It lives in scrub jungles, fallow land, and both dry and moist deciduous forests, often in areas with moderate to heavy rain, and can also be found on degraded hill slopes and secondary growth. Its range covers India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, much of Southeast Asia and Australia (except New Guinea), and it feeds on nectar from garden flowers such as Lantana and Zinnia.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
Both males and females have tawny wings marked with broad black veins and black edges that show two rows of white spots.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
The wingspan ranges from 70 to 95 mm (about 2.8 to 3.7 inches).
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
It occurs in scrub jungles, fallow land near habitations, and dry or moist deciduous forests that receive moderate to heavy rainfall. It is also found on degraded hill slopes and ridges, whether bare, denuded, or covered with secondary growth.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
Adults visit gardens and feed on nectar from flowers such as Adelocaryum, Cosmos, Celosia, Lantana, Zinnia and similar plants.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
Eggs are laid singly under the leaves of host plants in the milkweed family (Asclepiadaceae). The green chrysalis is marked with golden-yellow spots.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
Its distribution includes India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, much of Southeast Asia and Australia, but not New Guinea.
Source: Wikipedia
Lookalikes
It closely resembles the American monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus). Both sexes of the Indian Tamil lacewing and the leopard lacewing, as well as female common palmflies, mimic its striped pattern.
Source: Wikipedia
More photos
Questions people ask
Are they a pest for gardens or crops?
They are not reported to damage plants; they actually feed on nectar from garden flowers.
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Nymphalidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danaus_genutia
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-22 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-22.