Monday, August 26, 2013

West Malaysia: Panti Forest Butterflies

Common Tree Nymph (Idea stolli)
To finish my series of posts on the Malaysian Nature Society trip to Panti Forest in February 2012, here is a gallery of butterflies.  First is a "flying handkerchief", the Common Tree Nymph (Idea stolli): slow, graceful and easy to photograph in mid-air.

Malay Lacewing (Cethosia hypsea hypsina)
Malay Lacewing (Cethosia hypsea hypsina)
Malay Lacewing (Cethosia hypsea hypsina)
Malay Lacewing (Cethosia hypsea hypsina)
Next, a series of another easy-to-identify butterfly, the Malay Lacewing (Cethosia hypsea hypsina) (though there are a few similar Cethosia species that you need to differentiate).

Archduke (Lexias pardalis dirtea) f
Archduke (Lexias pardalis dirtea) f
Now things get a little more difficult.  This is probably a female Archduke (Lexias pardalis dirtea), on the basis of the orange tips to its antennae.  However, its wingspots are bluish-white rather than tan: the mark of a female Great Archduke (Lexias cyanipardus), a species that has been recorded along the Bunker Trail.  Great Archdukes, however, have all-dark antennae.  So what is this?  The closest match I can find is the Blue-spotted Archduke (L. albopunctata), which combines blue spots with orange antennal knobs, but that is a Thai-Indochinese species that is not supposed to occur in Peninsular Malaysia.  Can anyone help?

Mycalesis sp
I presume that this is a species of Mycalesis (Bush Browns) but, again, I am not sure which one.

Nigger (Orsotrianea medus)
This is Orsotrianea medus, usually called the Nigger.  I have now come across one alternate name - Smooth-eyed Bush Brown.  Should I use this in future?

Knight (Lebadea martha malayana) f
Knight (Lebadea martha malayana) f
Knight (Lebadea martha malayana) f
Knight (Lebadea martha malayana) f
This is a female Knight (Lebadea martha malayana) (if that isn't a contradiction in terms).  It is one of a series of nymphalid butterflies that look rather like one another; I did not quite realise what this one was until I started checking my photographs against my reference books.

Malay Viscount (Tanaecia pelea pelea)
Malay Viscount (Tanaecia pelea pelea)
The Knight looks rather like a souped-up version of this butterfly, the Malay Viscount (Tanaecia pelea pelea)...

Malay Baron (Euthalia monina) f
…or of this one, a female Malay Baron (Euthalia monina).  I'll have to keep my eyes open a bit more next time!

Neptis sp
I have a great deal of trouble distinguishing the many species of Neptis and Athyma in Malaysia.  This is one of them.  After poring over a number of books and websites, I will say that I think that this is a Grey (or Burmese) Sailor (Neptis leucoporos).

Striped Albatross (Appias lyncida)
Finally, a Striped Albatross (Appias lyncida), the only butterfly in this post not to be a member of the family Nymphalidae (it is, instead, a member of the Pieridae, or whites).

1 comment:

  1. Love tree nymphs. I always get distracted in a hike if I see them, resulting in me going after them, even if I am doubling back on the track. They are so graceful like a piece of paper floating in the wind, only to suddenly 'disappear' in the shadowy vegetation. No wonder locals call them surat. Hahaha, butterflies are also not spared from political correctness.

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