Two new pyrrolizidine alkaloids, ideamines A and B, together with other analogs (lycopsamine and parsonsine) were isolated in the N-oxide forms from adult bodies of the Apocynaceae-feeding danaine butterfly, Idea leuconoe. Ideamine A was characterized as a homolog of lycopsamine, in which the viridifloric acid moiety was replaced by a 2-ethy1-2, 3-dihydroxybutanoic moiety. Likewise, ideamine B was identified as a nor-derivative of parsonsine, in which the trachelanthic acid moiety was replaced by a 2-ethy1-2, 3-dihydroxybutanoic moiety diastereomeric to the necic acid from ideamine A. © 1991, Japan Society for Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Agrochemistry. All rights reserved.