Elymnias esaca (Green Palmfly)

Elymnias esaca

Initially this butterfly was thought to resemble a Jezebel Palmfly (Elymnias Vasudeva). But after seeking confirmation from local expert, Dr Laurence Kirton confirmed that it was a female 'Elymnias escaca' which can be found in Peninsular Malaysia but just not so common ! It was alone at that time and was quite skittish as well. Photo was taken in the early afternoon. Location: Pahang, Peninsular Malaysia.

Here is Dr Laurence Kirton's explanation: "It is easily confused with Elymnias vasudeva, which has a slightly different wing shape and lacks black submarginal spots. E. esaca also has less heavy black markings on the underside". 

After obtaining confirmation from Dr Laurence K, i decided to look closely at Jezebel Palmfly's photos, and found that they indeed do not have spots towards its hindwings as compared to E. esaca ! Wow didn't know that identifying butterflies can be a real challenge as well.  

Photo id credit: Dr Laurence Kirton from Malaysia and Mr SK Khew from Singapore. 

Plain Banded Awl (H.vitta)

This skipper was seen at one of the forest trails in FRIM, Kepong, Peninsular Malaysia on 1 May 2015 at 12.33pm.

Plain Banded Awl

I believe this skipper is a "Plain Banded Awl" rather than a "White-tipped Palmer". Its wing beats produced a buzzing sound which can be heard if it flies near you. 

Lots of other butterflies were seen but they were all quite common - mainly comprising of Chocolate Grass Yellow, Chocolate Albatross. Here are some CGY photos:

This one was sampling some bird's poo.

Common Butterflies Up Close - Dec 2014

The weather has not been conducive lately for watching butterflies. Usually butterflies would hide underneath leaves during the rain but i had a rare opportunity recently to snap a few of them in between the showers.

Psyche (Leptosia nina)

It emerges right after the rain stopped. Here you can see the faint black spot on the upper side of its wings. 

 When it is wide open the black spot can be clearly seen. It was seen flying close to the ground as described by most people/books. A common butterfly in the garden but not sure why people call it "Psyche" though !

I believe the above butterfly species was a "Lesser Grass Blue" (Zizina otis). Quite a tiny butterfly which flew out to join the "Psyche". 

Common Palmfly (Elymnias hypermnestra)

Surprised to see this lovely butterfly flying in immediately after the rain stopped. It was certainly not anywhere near a palm tree but it rested for quite sometime on a "Bunga Raya" tree instead.

Banana Skipper (Erionota thrax)

As its name suggests it should be hanging around a lot near the banana plantations and probably not in your garden. This skipper was seen near a river and i was informed that it is quite uncommon to see one nowadays.

Palm King (Amathusia phiddippus) 

 This large butterfly was seen near a swampy area in Penang. The black markings on its wings was actually caused by a "drongo" (a type of bird) trying to devour it several times. During those times it had managed to hide itself between the nipah palms as can be seen from the above photo. Not sure whether the butterfly had survive the day as the drongo was waiting nearby at all times. According to Kirton (2014) fieldguide book, most Palm Kings are rare !

HaPPY nEW yEAr 2015 !!