Random Gallery - Common Palm Dart

Random Butterfly Gallery
The Common Palm Dart (Telicota colon stinga)

The Palm Darts - genus Telicota are moderately sized skippers with black and orange wings.  They are fast-flying and zip around rapidly amongst open grassy areas on hot sunny days.  Many of the species stop to sunbathe in the usual skipper fashion, with the hindwings opened flat, whilst the forewings are held opened at a 45deg angle to the body.  At other times, they perch proudly, almost on tip-toe, with their wings folded shut upright.

This shot showing a Common Palm Dart perched elegantly on a curved grass blade was taken by ButterflyCircle member Lemon Tea recently at an open wasteland in the eastern part of Singapore. The classic sharp and well-composed shot with a pleasing smooth green background makes for an excellently executed shot of this relatively common skipper.

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Random Gallery - Banded LineBlue

Random Butterfly Gallery
The Banded LineBlue (Prosotas lutea sivoka)


ISO800 1/200s F/8 , Fill-flashed , Handheld

A much-needed outing for ButterflyCircle member Sunny Chir on Sunday yielded a very nice shot of the Banded LineBlue.  This species was a recent discovery in Singapore and first found in the Bukit Brown cemetery area.  It remains a mystery why the Banded Line Blue has not been observed here in Singapore after so many years.

Sunny's shot is an example of a well-executed photograph in butterfly photography in many aspects :

• A clean and creamy background that is well-lit
• A flowering perch with yellow flowers that complement the rather drab butterfly
• A well-composed shot using the rule of thirds (vertically and horizontally) on both the perch and the main subject
• A butterfly that is feeding (note proboscis extended into the flower) and not just sitting there doing nothing
• Sharply focused subject throughout
• Well-balanced and pleasing lighting with good contrast between the subject and its background that allows the butterfly to stand out prominently in the photo

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Butterfly of the Month - November 2012

Butterfly of the Month - November 2012
The Sumatran Sunbeam (Curetis saronis sumatrana)

The month of November 2012 has certainly been an eventful one for global politics.  Two of the world's largest economies - China and the United States of America saw leadership 'adjustments'. In the case of the USA, the results of the elections put President Barack Obama back into the White House for a second four-year term in office. It would appear that many of the Asian economies prefer President Obama for his more open foreign policy.

On the other side of the globe, the world's most populous nation, China, saw the changing of the guard at its 18th Congress when President Hu Jintao relinquished his key posts to pave the way for the General-Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Xi Jinping to take over the post of President in March 2013.

Back at home, the Singapore Parliament has just adjourned after another session of active debate over issues like the death penalty, casino (or gambling) control and a number of other less contentious Bills. The scandal of the NUS law scholar and his girlfriend's exhibitionist escapades on their blog took centrestage on social media for quite a few days this month. It does leave one wondering how the power of social media and the internet, and how the world communicates today, literally at the speed of light, will affect us in the years to come.

Back to nature. The flower of the month of November traditionally belongs to the Chrysanthemum. This flowering plant belongs to the family Asteraceae which are native to Asia and Eastern Europe. The Chrysanthemum can grow between 50-150cm tall, has deep leaves and large flower heads with dozens of petals. The Chrysanthemum is most commonly found in shades of white, pink, red and yellow. Yellow or white chrysanthemum flowers of the species C. morifolium are boiled to make a sweet drink in some parts of Asia. The resulting beverage is known simply as "chrysanthemum tea" (菊花茶, pinyin : júhuā chá).

Our feature butterfly of the month is the Sumatran Sunbeam (Curetis saronis sumatrana). This species belongs to the sub-family Curetinae of the family Lycaenidae. The Curetis spp., collectively referred to by their English name "Sunbeams" are fast-flying butterflies featuring usually bright orange-red or light orange uppersides in most of the species.

Two female Sumatran Sunbeams feeding on juices of the Noni fruit (Morinda citrifolia)

Only two Curetis species are reliably recorded from Singapore in the past few decades : the Malayan Sunbeam and the Sumatran Sunbeam. The latter species, our butterfly of the month, is often found in mangrove habitats where its host plant, Derris trifoliata grows in abundance. They can be seasonally common, where more than a dozen individuals may be spotted in a single outing.

Females are more often seen than males, probably because of their presence in the vicinity of their host plants, whilst males are more likely found at the tree tops. The butterfly is a strong flyer, skittish and has a habit of hiding on the underside of a leaf with its wings folded upright when disturbed. At other times, the species is fond of sunbathing with its wings partially opened, showing off its orange and black uppersides in sunlit spots along open paths in the mangrove habitats.

The male of the Sumatran Sunbeam has more angular wings and orange-red uppersides with narrower borders

The much rarer male of the Sumatran Sunbeam has a bright orange-red upperside with a narrow black border. The wings are more angular when compared to the females. The female has more rounded wings and the upperside is paler orange with broad black-dusted borders on the fore and hindwings. The undersides are silvery-white with lunulate post discal striae. The legs are red-banded.

The slug-like caterpillars feed on the host plant Derris trifoliata, a common creeper often found in mangroves and back-mangroves. This creeper is also a host plant of the Hesperiidae, the Common Awl (Hasora badra badra). The life history of the Sumatran Sunbeam has been documented in full on this blog.

Text by Khew SK : Photos by Sunny Chir, Chng CK, Federick Ho, Khew SK, Loke PF & Horace Tan.

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Random Gallery - Bigg's Brownie

Random Butterfly Gallery
Bigg's Brownie (Miletus biggsii biggsii)

The Bigg's Brownie is a relatively common species in Singapore.  It is most often seen fluttering restlessly in well-shaded areas at the fringes of the nature reserves as well as in various urban parks.  The species is associated with mealy bugs, aphids and coccids, on which their caterpillars feed.  The adult butterflies are observed flying around ant-infested young shoots of various plants.  The ants "farm" the mealy bugs for their sugary discharge, and do not seem to attack the intruding butterflies.

The species is light brown on the upperside, with an oblique white band on the forewings, which can vary across different individuals.  The underside is light greyish brown with dark markings outlined in white.  This individual was shot by ButterflyCircle member Koh Cher Hern recently. 

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Life History of the Leopard Lacewing

Life History of the Leopard Lacewing (Cethosia cyane)

Butterfly Biodata:
Genus: Cethosia Fabricius, 1807
Species: cyane Drury, 1773
Wingspan of Adult Butterfly: 80mm
Caterpillar Local Host Plants: Passiflora foetida (Passifloraceae), Adenia macrophylla var. singaporeana (Passifloraceae)

A female Leopard Lacewing visiting the flower of Bidens alba.

A female Leopard Lacewing.

A female Leopard Lacewing showing its uppersidevisiting Lantana flowers.

Physical Description of Adult Butterfly:

Above, the male is orange with apical two-thirds of the forewing black with a white and oblique band lying within. The termen of both forewing and hindwing  is indented and lined with a broad and black marginal area containing a lace-like pattern of white markings. The female is mostly similar but with the orange background replaced with a  pale yellowish to whitish coloration, and has its hindwing endowed with more discal and postdiscal black spots.    Underneath, the wings are variegated with orange, red, white, black and blue. In the forewing, the cell area is transversed with bars of black, bluish-white and  red coloration, beyond which a broad, white and oblique band lies just below the subapical area. In the hindwing, the ground colour is orange in the male and pale creamy yellow in the female. The basal area and the costal margin are crossed by short black lines, with the ground colour more reddish in the male. A somewhat broad discal band and a narrow post-discal band, both white, are  bordered with  black spots and striae.  As in the upperside, the terminal margins are black and house lace-like white markings, with additional short white straie pointing from the margin inwards to the tip of the V-shaped markings. 

A male Leopard Lacewing showing its upperside.

A male Leopard Lacewing visiting flowers.

Field Observations of Butterfly Behaviour:

This migrant species was recently discovered in Singapore in 2005. Since then, it has established a firm foothold and can be considered a common species in Singapore. Across the island, Leopard Lacewing can be found flying in many wastelands where its host plant, Passiflora foetida, grows in relative abundance. The adults have the habit of visiting flowers for nectar and are very fast on the wings.

Early Stages:

The local host plant adopted by Leopard Lacewing as it spread quickly across the island is Passiflora foetida, a member of the Passifloraceae family commonly found in wastelands. In captive setting, the Leopard Lacewing has also been breed succesfully on another plant in the same family, Adenia macrophylla var. singaporeana, a plant which only occurs naturally within the catchment reserves. This might account for the sightings of Leopard Lacewing in some areas of the nature reserves.

Host plant : Passiflora foetida

The caterpillars of the Leopard Lacwing feed on the leaves, young shoots and outer surface of older stems of the host plant. The Leopard Lacewing caterpillars are gregarious throughout all five instars, often eating (leaves and stems), resting and moulting together in groups.

A mating pair of Leopard Lacewing.

A female Leopard Lacewing caught in the act of ovipositing.

A mother Leopard Lacewing lays eggs on its host plant in a large and loose cluster on the surface (usually the underside) of a leaf, or on a young stem and even on a tendril. Each yellowish egg is barrel-shaped with a ribbed surface. It has a height of about 1.3-1.4mm, and a cross-sectional diameter of about 0.8-0.9mm.

A small group of eggs laid on a young stem.

A loose cluster of eggs laid on the underside of a leaf.

Top: A group of fresh eggs laid on a tendril of Passiflora foetida. Bottom: Young caterpillars emerging from the eggs 5 days later.

Each egg takes about 5-6 days to hatch. The infant caterpillar nibbles away a small portion of the egg shell and pushes its way through the crack. Unlike the newly hatched of many other Nymphalidae species, it does not turn around to devour the empty egg shell. The newly hatched has a cylindrical body in yellowish brown, and an initial body length of about 2.2mm. The body is covered in a grid of greyish tubercles, each with a single long seta. The head is black and there is a pair of greyish spines on the first thoracic segment. A greyish to black anal plate is present. The young caterpillar either skims the lamina on a young leaf or nibbles away at the tip of a young stem.

Mature eggs with the black head and black body setae of the caterpillar visible through the egg shell.

Two views of a newly hatched caterpillar, length: 2.2mm.

A group of 1st instar caterpillars resting between feeds, day 2 in this stage, with color changes.

As the 1st instar caterpillar feeds and grows, its body segments take on alternating yellow and white coloration. It grows to a length of 5.5-6mm in the 1st instar, and the moult to the 2nd instar takes place after about 2-3 days in this isntar.

1st instar caterpillar, day 3 in this stage, ready to moult; length: 5mm.

The 2nd instar caterpillar is wine-red in most segments, creamy yellow in 2nd, 4th, 6th and 8th abdominal segments, mostly yellow but with a touch of wine-red in all 3 thoracic segments. The rows of tubercles in the 1st instar are replaced by 6 longitudinal rows of fine-pointed black spines, 3 to each side of the body. Among these, the dorso-lateral rows of spines are the longest. A pair of short and black coronal spine appears on the head. This instar lasts 2-2.5 days with the body length reaching about 9mm before the next moult.

A group of two 2nd instar caterpillars, length: 6mm.

Two views of a 2nd instar caterpillar, late in this stage, 9mm.

In the 3rd instar, there is no drastic change in physical appearance except for proportionately longer coronal spines (now about the same length as the height of the head capsule). A pink reddish dorsal patch can be seen in the 2nd thoracic segment, 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th and 9th abdominal segments. This instar takes 2-3 days to complete with body length reaching up to 14mm.

Two views of a 3rd instar caterpillar, 14mm.

A group of 3rd instar caterpillars on a vine of the host plant in the field.

The coronal spines in the 4th instar caterpillar are again longer proportionately with the length of each spine about equal to the 1.5x height of the head capsule. The pinky red dorsal patch on the 2nd thoracic segment seen in the earlier instar is no longer present, with only an outline still visible. The 4th instar lasts about 3-4 days with body length reaching about 22mm.

A Leopard Lacewing caterpillar moults from 3rd to 4th instar.

Two views of a 4th instar caterpillar, late in this stage, length: 21.5mm.

A group of 4th instar caterpillars munching on a vine of the host plant.

The next moult brings the caterpillar to its 5th and final instar. The caterpillar is little changed in appearance coming into this instar. One visible change is that the coronal spines are now about 2x the height of the head capsule. This phase lasts for 4-5 days and the body length reaching up to 39mm.

Two views of a 5th instar caterpillar, early in the stage, length: 23.5mm

Two views of a 5th instar caterpillar, length: 32mm

Towards end of 5th instar, the caterpillar ceases feeding and wanders around in search of a suitable pupation site. Finally the caterpillar finds a spot on the underside of a leaf, stalk or stem where it spins a silk pad to which it secures itself with graspers at its posterior end. From this anchor, the caterpillar hangs vertically head-down and becomes a pre-pupa.

A pre-pupa of the Leopard Lacewing.

Pupation takes place a day later. The pupa hangs vertically. It has two pairs of pointed white processes at the middle of its body and a number of less prominent dorso-lateral processes. A pair of black foliaceous processes adorn the head. Body color is either dark brown or yellowish brown, both mottled with white and black patches. There are several dorsal spots of bright silverish. When disturbed, the body could jerk sideways through the movement of the posterior abdominal segments. Length of pupae: 26-28mm.

A Leopard Lacewing caterpillar moults to its pupal stage.

Three views of a pupa of Leopard Lacewing; dark form.

Three views of a pupa of Leopard Lacewing; yellowish brown form.

After about 6 days of development, the mature pupa are darkened, especially in the wing spad. The next day the adult butterfly emerges from the pupal case.

Three views of a mature pupa of Leopard Lacewing; yellowish brown form.

A female Leopard Lacewing emerges from its pupal case.

Newly eclosed Leopard Lacewing drying its wings on the pupal case. Left: female; Right: male.

References:

• [C&P4] The Butterflies of The Malay Peninsula, A.S. Corbet and H.M. Pendlebury, 4th Edition, Malayan Nature Society.
• Butterflies of Thailand, Pisuth Ek-Amnuay, 1st Edition, 2006.
• A Field Guide to the Butterflies of SIngapore, Khew S K, Ink on Paper Comm. Pte. Ltd, 2010.

Text by Horace Tan, Photos by Anthony Wong, Antonio Giudici, Bobby Mun, CK Chng, Caijin Huang, Jonathan Soong, Mark Wong, Sunny Chir and Horace Tan

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Another New Discovery makes it #305!

Another New Discovery makes it #305!
The Yellow Flat (Mooreana trichoneura trichoneura)

The year 2012 must be a particularly lucky one for ButterflyCircle member Federick Ho. Of the four new species observed by ButterflyCircle members this year, Federick contributed a hat-trick (i.e. 3 hits) to the Singapore Checklist! Spotting new and unrecorded species of butterflies out in the field is a combination of being out at the right time of the day, a pair of sharp eyes, and a matter of being at the right place at the right time, and Federick is doing exactly that so far !

All the four new additions to the Singapore Checklist this year were considered new discoveries, as all four species were not recorded by the early authors in their respective checklists [Ref 1 & 2]. These species are therefore considered new to the Singapore butterfly fauna and it is quite consistent with some of the discoveries from the past years during this period of the north-easterly winds. One theory is that the NE monsoon winds may have carried some species southwards to Singapore from across the Causeway. Of course, some of these new finds could already have existed in the less-explored forested areas of Singapore, just waiting for someone to spot them.

This morning, a quartet of ButterflyCircle members - Federick Ho, Loke PF, Simon Sng and newbie Huang CJ, were out on their usual weekend butterfly shooting hunt when Federick spotted something that he hadn't seen before in Singapore. He signalled for the rest of the team to hurry to his location, whilst taking shots of his new find.

As it turned out, this attractive Hesperiidae from the sub-family Pyrginae (or commonly referred to as the "Flats") known as the Yellow Flat (Mooreana trichoneura trichoneura) has been seen for the first time in Singapore.  This skipper has not been recorded in Singapore before, and is thus a new discovery. ButterflyCircle records it as species #305 in the Singapore Checklist.

The Yellow Flat is described as a forest-dependent species found in lowland jungles up to 2,500ft. In the males, both the mid- and hind-tibiae feature a hair tuft. Its distribution is relatively wide, stretching from India to Thailand and Malaysia and all the way to the Philippines. The upperside is dark brown with a number of hyaline spots on the forewings.  The hindwing has a series of wedge-shaped discal spots and the tornal area is prominently yellow.  On the underside, the colours are more muted, appearing as a pale yellowish white.

Males and females are similar in appearance. The butterfly has a habit similar to many other members of the sub-family and flies swiftly, often perched on the underside of a leaf with its wings spread open flat. The butterfly is described as "rare on the forested plains in Malaya"

Was the species extant in Singapore all this time? Or is it a newcomer "foreign talent" that had just migrated into the forests of Singapore? This rather pristine individual spotted this morning suggests that the species was not one that had travelled far as it showed relatively little wear and tear on its wings. Whatever its origins, we welcome another new species to our sunny little island. And we hope that Federick's lucky streak will continue!

Text by Khew SK : Photos by Federick Ho, Huang CJ, Loke PF & Simon Sng

References:

1. The Butterflies of The Malay Peninsula, A.S. Corbet and H.M. Pendlebury, 4th Edition, Malayan Nature Society. 1991
2. Butterflies of West Malaysia and Singapore, WA Fleming, 2nd Edition, Longmans, 1983
3. Butterflies of Thailand, Pisuth Ek-Amnuay, 2nd Edition, Amarin Printing & Publishing, 2012.

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