Butterflies along the Forest Trail

As you enter the jungle for your nature walks or jungle trekking activities, keep an eye on the side of the trail. You might just be rewarded with butterflies of many varieties and colors. From my experience, butterflies would appear in abundance on sunny days or just after an overnight rain fall. Here are some of the butterflies which you might just encounter along the jungle trails of Peninsular Malaysia:

Commander (Moduza procris milonia)

Himalayan Jester / Spotted Jester (Symbrenthia hypselis)

A rare butterfly

Archduke (Lexias pardalis)

Horsfield Baron (Tanaecia iapis puseda)

Tawny Rajah (Charaxes bernardus)

Dark Blue Jungle Glory (Thaumantis  klugius lucipor)

Malayan Yeoman (Cirrochroa emalea emalea)

Orange Tip (Hebomoia glaucippe aturia)

Orange Tip (Hebomoia glaucippe aturia)

Apparently the male version of "orange tip" has a black tip !

Tawny Coster (Acraea terpsicore)

Common Bottle Blue (Graphium sarpedon luctatius)

Common Cerulean (Jamides celeno aelianus)

Small Leopard (Phalanta alcippe)

Magpie Crow (Euploea radamanthus radamanthus)

Lance Sergeant (Athyma pravara helma)

Studded Sergeant (Athyma asura idita)

Clipper (Parthenos sylvia) - race:  lilacinus

Banded Demon (Notocrypta paralysos varians)

Malay Viscount (Tanaecia pelea pelea)

This was my first difficult butterfly - identification sense. Apparently Malay Viscount butterflies are quite similar as the female Horsfield's Baron.

Knight (Lebadea martha malayana)

Rajah Brooke's Birdwing (Trogonoptera brookiana)

Chocolate Grass Yellow (Eurema sari sodalis)

Chocolate Pansy (Junonia iphita)

Marbled White Moth (Nyctemera coleta)

The Malayan Owl (Neorina Iowii)

According to Liew Nyuk Lin, this butterfly is a denizen of deep forest. Glad it ventured out to the jungle trial.

There were about 9 -10 different species of butterflies here.

(Note: some of these butterflies may also occur in other areas such as your house garden, parks etc)

Butterflies in the Mountains - July 2014

Recently i decided to spent a few hours in the morning at a popular resort located in Pahang, Malaysia. Instead of vacationing up there i have been busy looking at its butterfly population. Here are some of them which i have manage to photographed:

Common 3 Ring (Ypthima pandocus corticaria)

Could this be a Malayan Tree Nymph (Idea hypermnestra) ?

Smaller Wood Nymph (Ideopsis Gaura perakana)

Reason: it has rounder hind wings

Black Veined Tiger (Danuas melanippus hegesippus)

Striped Blue Crow (Euploea mulciber)

Parantica sita ethologa (Swinhoe) - Chestnut Tiger

Chestnut Tiger - Parantica sita ethologa (Swinhoe)

Chestnut Tigers are said to be uncommon in Malaysia but absence in Singapore.

Swallowtail Moth (Lyssa zampa)

This moth has appeared in abundance in the month of July and it can be found almost every where - near the coastal areas, cities and right up to this mountainous region. 

Malayan Jezebel (Delias ninus ninus)

Note: some of these butterflies may also occur in lower elevations / low land forest.

My First Butterfly Collections

I have noticed that there are just a hand full of blogs on butterflies, especially in Malaysia. So i decided to add my own collections here to complement the existing ones.  I have been an avid bird watcher for many years now and during my outings in the jungle i have often encountered many fascinating butterflies along the trails. I have told myself that one day i will eventually be a butterfly watcher and the day has finally came.

Butterfly watching are just like bird watching. There are certain butterflies which would not allow you to get close to them while some are very rare and difficult to see. There are also ways to entice the butterflies to come out in the open like what some photographers have done though i am not sure it is a right thing to do - ethically i mean. Butterflies do come in many shades, sizes and varieties as well. However the only pertinent difference would be that butterflies do not migrate as far as birds do.

Peacock Pansy (Junonia almana almana)

Butterflies can be found almost everywhere - from your gardens, on jungle trails or right up to the mountain regions etc. They are part of nature which sustained the entire eco-system of the environment. 

Banded Yeoman (Cirrochroa orissa orissa)

Chocolate Albatross (Appias lyncida vasava)

Common Duffer (Discophora sondaica)

Royal Assyrian (Terinos terpander robertsia)

Courtesan (Euripus nyctelius euploeoides)

Common Mapwing (Cyrestis thyodamas)

Anderson's Grass Yellow (Eurema andersonii andersonii)

More postings will be coming your way.

HAPPY BUTTERFLY WATCH!