Butterflies of Tropical Rainforest - 2017

In the tropical rainforest, you will feel just like a child in a toy shop. There are so many things to explore and see within a day. Like birds and animals, there are also butterflies which are common as well as rare ones.

Here are some rare ones which i have came across recently.

Bamboo Tree-Brown (Lethe europa)

Palm King (Amathusia phidippus)

Tufted Jungle King (Thauria aliris)

The above photo was taken without a diffuser flash.

This one was taken with some flash.

Blue-banded Jungle Glory (Thaumantis odana)

All the above butterflies were very skittish except for the Palm King. Their comfort zone was very wide which prevented me from going closer.

Here are the more common ones.

Common Palmfly (Elymnias hypermnestra)

The single white costal hindwing spot should give away its identity.

Edited: The above butterfly is actually a Dark Evening Brown (Melanitis phedima abdullae).

Great Egg-fly (ssp H. b. jacintha)

Malayan Owl (Neorina lowii)

The above photos show a female Archduke (Lexias pardalis) 

Features: i) orange-tipped antennae

ii) larger size      

For comparison, the photo below shows a "Yellow Archduke" 

Yellow Archduke (Lexias canescens)

Common Bluebottle (Graphium sarpedon)

Darts can be difficult to distinguish so i will leave them to the experts. I can only guess that the above skipper might probably be a "Pale Palm Dart" (Telicota colon)

Enjoy the Natural World 

and 

HAPPY WATCHING BUTTERFLIES !

Butterflies and Skippers of a Forest Trail - Sept 2017

Unlike in Singapore, there are not many naturalist in Malaysia who are keen in watching butterflies. Watching butterflies are not too difficult but looking for rare ones are a different story all together. It has been raining for the past weeks but when a window of opportunity arises, we need to take whatever chances that comes our way. Here are some of the butterflies and skippers seen in between the drizzle and sun light recently.

Courtesan (Euripus nyctelius)

This was the best photo i have so far of this butterfly species. Wonder how its eyes will look like under an electron microscope ?

Although it is not rare but this was the first time i have seen one with yellow eyes !

Dark Grass Brown

Common Duffer

I wonder whether it was a Great Duffer as i could not see any white forewing spots on the above butterfly.

Horsfield's Baron 

Note: there are a few subspecies for this butterfly species

Lately i have been seeing a lot more skippers in the forest than real butterflies. I wonder whether their population have taken over the butterflies which are much bigger in size and an easier prey to birds? 

Here are some of the skippers seen recently.

Could this be a female 'Dubious Filter' which is rare in this region? or perhaps just a Banded Demon.

Here is a rare occasion where a Bright Red-Velvet Bob (Koruthaialos sindu sindu) (top) is seen together with a Narrow-banded Velvet Bob (Koruthaialos rubecula) on a same leave. Without the help of a field guide, it will be quite a difficult task to identify skippers.

The above photos should be a "Lesser Long-spot Flitter" (Isma bononia bononia).

At times i wonder how some professionals were able to take close-up photos of these skippers as some of them are really skittish like the one below.  Using a 600mm lens to shoot this skipper will be like using a bazooka to kill a mosquito.

This one is a small skipper.

I reckon this should be a "Spotless Bob" (Idmon distanti)

The above two should be "Chocolate Demon" (Ancistroides nigrita)

Here is a "Dark Yellow-banded Flat" (Celaenorrhinus aurivittatus cameroni) 

At times our views can be side tracked by other stunning flora and fauna seen nearby. Here are just some of them.

A red hot flower of a wild ginger plant.

Looks more like a strawberry coated jelly. If i was starving in the jungle i would have probably eaten it.

 This bluish colored fly was disturbing me so i decided to take his photo so that i will remember him when i see him again :-)

HAPPY WATCHING BUTTERFLIES !

An Afternoon with Skippers - August 2017

There are higher possibilities that you can find some butterflies in the afternoon rather than birds. While the birds are usually inactive in the afternoon, the butterflies and skippers will be busy looking for nectar despite the humid temperature.

Here are some photos of them in the mid afternoon.

Fulvous Pied Flat (Pseudocoladenia dan)

At just 1.5 cm this skipper is really small. It usually prefers to keep very low in the foliage as i have observed. Fortunately it is still very common i.e at least in this area of observation.

Chocolate Demon (Ancistroides nigrita)

This skipper is slightly larger at 2.3cm as compared to the earlier one. However unlike the skipper above, this one has a rather dull appearance. 

Common Banded Demon (Notocrypta paralysos)

Another demon at large.

This one looks like it was wearing a shade in the bright afternoon.

Another Common Banded Demon

Malayan Sailer (Neptis duryodana)

How did i know that it was a 'Malayan Sailer' instead of a 'Common Sailer'? Have a look at the photos below of the same butterfly.

Kirton (2014) described a 'Malayan Sailer' as having more brown on its underside as compared to orange-brown of a 'Common Sailer'.

Common 5-Ring (Ypthima baldus)

Not sure which is more common - Common 3-Ring or Common 5-Ring?

Malayan Wanderer (Pareronia valeria)

Ladies and Gentlemen, the above butterfly was a female 'Malayan Wanderer' which Kirton (2014) described as rare in this region. SG had just celebrated their national day recently while Malaysia will celebrate their 60th soon i.e on 31st August. This butterfly is specially dedicated to this very special occasion

HAPPY WATCHING BUTTERFLIES !

Great Egg-Fly (Hypolimnas bolina)

Great Egg-fly

Recently i came across this Great Egg-fly. Apparently this butterfly species has some form of sexual dimorphism between male and female. According to the literature and field guide, the underside of a female is generally brown, with white marginal markings and white discal band (Kirton, 2014). Meanwhile it was reported that, there are currently two sub-species of Great Egg-fly in this region - i) Ssp H.b. bolina and ii) Ssp H.b jacinta. According to Kirton (2014) field guide, the female Ssp Jacinta has white marginal hindwing borders with some bluish discal patches. From the above description, this butterfly should be a female Great Egg-fly from the Ssp Jacinta.

Have a look at its eye ! It has a unique star-like pattern. 

One look at this butterfly you may think that it might resemble a female "Courtesan" (Euripus nyctelus) but with the help of a field guide you will find that a female "Courtesan" has a rounder discal marking. 

You can see the bluish discal patches which i believe was where their name has came from.

While photographing the Great Egg-fly, in came this "Common Mormon" (Papilio polytes). 

HAVE FUN WITH BUTTERFLIES!