The Jewelled Grass Blue (Freyeria putli)
A mating pair of Jewelled Grass Blue
We are on the final few hours of the last day of the shortest month of the year, and the Lunar New Year festivities are long over, having ended on 12 Feb with Chap Goh Meh. The resounding "huat-ahs" accompanying the boisterous "lo-hei" of Yusheng dinners are over, with the tradition put to rest until the next Lunar New Year in 2026. It is back to work or school for most Singaporean residents and life goes back to normalcy.
The widespread infection of the aggressive Influenza A is still in the air as the endemic flu spreads around our city state. It was not so long ago, when people wore masks to protect themselves and others from Covid-19. But it appears that we either have a very short memory of those dark days, or people do not consider the flu as anything as dangerous, and that it is perfectly fine to go about their daily lives sniffling and coughing in public areas and on public transport without the need to wear a face mask?
A Jewelled Grass Blue ovipositing on its caterpillar host plant
Over on the global stage, it was interesting to see how the US-Ukraine alignment on the war with Russia taking a very different overnight turn with the change in leadership in the US. Best friends under one leader, arms' length business contracts under the next. Always unpredictable. Full backing today, precarious conditional support the next. Not out of malice, but because priorities and perspectives shift. As someone once said on a reality TV show - "It's not personal, it's just business".
Back home in Singapore, the 2025 Budget has been announced, and the debate continues as to whether the 'generous' Community Development Council (CDC) vouchers to mitigate the escalating cost of living are enough or not. Many observers see the higher quantums of the CDC vouchers this year, and also the special SG60 vouchers (yes, Singapore will be 60 years young on 9 Aug this year!) are part of an election package. Whether it is or not, no government official will endorse nor deny anything!
So let's turn to our Butterfly of the Month for February 2025. We introduce a 'foreign talent' into Singapore's butterfly environment, the Jewelled Grass Blue (Freyeria putli). It was first recorded in September 2023 at a relatively urban park connector and flying with two other common local species - the Pygmy Grass Blue and the Lesser Grass Blue. This chance encounter added one more species to the Singapore butterfly list.
A Jewelled Grass Blue feeding on the flower of the Coat Button
The Jewelled Grass Blue is widely distributed in the region and occurs in Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, India, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia,
Vietnam, China, Malaysia and Australia. It is unclear how and when the species reached Singapore. Considering the diminutive size of the butterfly, it is hard to believe that it migrated here on its own steam. Could it have stowed away on some imported plants? Sightings of this species in our northern neighbour appears to be limited to Langkawi and Penang. Perhaps more observations need to be made to come to some plausible conclusion.
An upperside shot of a Jewelled Grass Blue
The Jewelled Grass Blue is a small and tailess butterfly, and can easily be overlooked or mistaken as one of the more common species by casual observers. With a wing span of only 12-16mm, it can challenge the Pygmy Grass Blue for the title of the smallest species in the region. On the upperside, both sexes are dark brown with a row of black marginal spots in the hindwing.
An environmental shot showing how small the Jewelled Grass Blue is, as it oviposits on its caterpillar host plant.
On the underside, both wings are gray to pale brown in ground colour and feature brown cell-end bars. On the forewing, there is a series of post-discal white-bordered spots and a submarginal series of white-bordered spots. Each hindwing has a row of prominently orange-crowned marginal spots speckled with shining metallic scales. There is also a series of white-bordered post-discal spots, a white-bordered black costal spot, four transverse black subbasal spots and one small black basal spot in space 1.
A Jewelled Grass Blue puddling at a sand bank.
The caterpillars of the Jewelled Grass Blue feed on the common "weed", the Creeping Indigo (Indigofera spicata). The recent documentation of this species' life history can be found on this blog here. The Jewelled Grass Blue has been slowly but surely spreading across the island wherever this host plant grows and can now be considered a "permanent resident" in Singapore.
Text by Khew SK : Photos by Khew SK, Koh CH, Loh MY, Low JK, Sebastian Ow, Horace Tan and Tay JX.
