RON - BUTTERFLY GALLERY (Malaysia)

Saturday, 6 February 2021

Malayan Tail Judy (Abisara savitri savitri)

Malayan Tail Judy (Abisara savitri savitri) is a forest dwelling butterfly. It is generally uncommon in this region and is reported to be more abundant in hilly areas such as in Fraser's Hill.

If it can avoid predation, I think it can live for quite a long time as I have been seeing this one for the past two weeks. According to literature, the life span of an adult butterfly is generally between 20 - 30 days and some even more (ref: Encyclopedia of the Butterfly World).

This butterfly can be skittish at times.

Its color is generally rusty brown as you can see here.

This butterfly is not a fast flier. It generally "hops" / "flutters" from one place to another.

A frontal look

"NATURE GIVES US IMMENSE JOY SO WE MUST TREASURE THEM"

Tuesday, 2 February 2021

Butterflies in January 2021

Here are some butterflies which were seen in the month of January 2021. All of them were seen at a nearby lowland forest. Watching butterflies can be easy because they can be seen most of the time except during winter months, raining days or during the night.

Yellow-disc Tailless Oakblue (Arhopala perimuta regina)

This is a rare butterfly in this region. I was lucky to be able take its photo as it came out momentarily from the mid-storey of some dense trees. It appears like it is depositing eggs in the above photo.

Branded Imperial (Eooxylides tharis distanti)

'Branded Imperial' and 'Common Posy' (above) continued to be the most often seen butterfly species in the month of January. Most of the time they can be seen alongside the trail.

Mottled Bush Brown (Mycalesis janardana sagittigera)

This butterfly is common year round.

Archduke (Lexias pardalis dirteana)

The above is a male and it is common in the forest. It has the most interesting looking caterpillar especially during the 3rd instar.

Great Egg-fly (Hypolimnas bolina bolina)

Most of the time I have seen them under the bright sunlight unlike the above "Archduke".

Punchinello (Zemeros flegyas)

This could be a seasonal butterfly (i.e with a dry and wet morph version) and is reported to be more abundant from 300m asl and above.

Malayan Plum Judy (Arbisara saturata kausambioides)

I believe the 'Malayan Plum Judy' is an uncommon butterfly in this region.

"WATCHING BUTTERFLIES IS SIMPLY FUN AND EXCITING"

Thursday, 28 January 2021

Understanding the butterflies of Peninsular Malaysia - Jan 2021

There are currently about 1182 species of butterflies been recorded in Malaysia (Wilson et al, in Norfazliana et al., 2018) with almost 80% of them are found in East Malaysia (i.e in Borneo Island) (Yong HS, 1983; Corbet and Pendlebury, 1992). Butterflies have many roles to play in our ecosystem. Not only are they the food source of many animals like birds and mammals but they are also well known pollinators.

Butterflies are also an important part of conservation efforts. The threat of extinction of some species are real. The loss and degradation of its forest habitat due to anthropogenic activities and poaching were some of the main concerns. Its elegance and beauty also provide a sense of eureka to nature lovers when one sees them (especially the rare ones).

The monsoon season is still continuing in this region as I write. It will probably ends somewhere in mid February. Nevertheless the butterflies took the advantage of intermittent sunlight to come out and enjoy themselves. Here are some of them which have been spotted recently.