Butterflies in August 2018

Weather over here has been sunny and hot lately. Plenty of butterflies around but mainly from the "Lycaenidae" family. Here are some other species seen.

Parantica melaneus

This "Chocolate Tiger" flies a bit like a 'wood-nymph', flapping its wings gently and glides slowly among low shrubs. Surprisingly this butterfly is reported to be absent from Singapore.

Looks like some "Bush-brown" but minus its clearly define eyespots.

Malayan Viscount (Tanaecia pelea)

This female Malayan Viscount is simply gorgeous !

Bluebottle (Graphium sarpedon)

This is a common butterfly which can be found along the jungle trails in this region.

Common Duffer (Discophora sondaica)

A butterfly which prefers virgin and dark forest.

Here are a few more butterflies photos taken from the higher elevation (hill station):

Vagrant (Vagrans sinha macromalayana)

Wood-Nymph (Ideopsis gaura perakana)

Purple Bush Brown (Mycalesis orseis natilus)

Differentiated from "Dingy Bush Brown" by its more straight ocellus (eye-spots) arrangements as compared to the last two ocellus at the forewing and hindwing of a "Dingy Bush Brown" which are positioned more inwards.  

Archduke (female)

I believe the above butterfly is a "Plain Puffin" (Appias indra plana). Identified from the yellow stripe at the top of its hindwing.

The above butterfly is certainly from the Euploea genus but i am not sure which subspecies it belongs to.

Note: local expert, Liew NL has confirmed that the above butterfly was a "Euploea mulciber mulciber" (Stripped Blue Crow)

Horsfield Baron (male).

HAPPY BUTTERFLY WATCHING !

Butterfly Watching - June 2018

Great Egg-fly (female - Ssp Bolina)

Magpie Crow (Euploea radamanthus)

Compared with the above Great Egg-fly, Magpie Crows have light blue spots from the Apex to Tornus section of its wings.

Dark Yellow-banded flat 

Lemon Pansy

Quite common in northern Peninsular Malaysia

Common Posy

Colonel (Pandita sinope)

Its wing was probably been chip off by a bird.

Here is a skipper which is probably under reported. It is small and has dull colors. I believe the above skipper is a "Plain Tufted Lancer" (Isma iapis) instead of a "Small Branded Swift" as it does not show any green sheen at its wing base as reported on the latter.

Butterfly Watching - May 2018

Here are some butterflies which came across my path recently. They were all seen at sub montane level.

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Common Three-Ring Butterfly

Marbled White Morph

This is probably a female Common Earl. Identified thru its white band hindwing.

Small Wood-Nymph (Ideopsis gaura)

Saw a few of them flying slowly in the forest trail.

Not so sure which butterfly does this Caterpillar belongs to but saw lots of the above wood-nymphs flying around.

Lastly this could be a Common Tiger (D.melanippus) from the old world.

Like its relatives in North America, the Monarch Butterfly, it is probably poisonous too.

HAPPY BUTTERFLY WATCHING !

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.

The above butterfly looks very much like a "Tawny Palmfly" (Elymnias panthera)

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 !