Early stages of a Danaine butterfly
This note by Cecil J. Brooks describes the larva and pupa of Ideopsis daos eudora Fruhst., a West Sumatran Danaine butterfly whose life history had previously been unknown (p. 260).
Summary
Brooks reports having secured the larva at Lebong Tandai, West Sumatra, and provides the first description of both the larval and pupal stages of this species. The larva is cylindrical and slender, with broadly black segments bearing narrower light yellow and red rings, and slender red hair tufts on either side of the head and at the abdominal extremity (p. 260). The pupa is squat and trunk-shaped, light green with scattered black spots, including a row of ten black spots in a silver band on the seventh segment (p. 260). Brooks compares these features with those of the allied Javanese species I. gaura as described by Piepers, confirming Fruhstorfer’s earlier surmise that Ideopsis larvae and pupae resemble Radena rather than Hestia (p. 260).
The note also records that the imago emerges after about ten days, and that from 25 specimens captured over 18 months the sex ratio was 1 male to 4 females, with no seasonal variation in marking observed (p. 261).