The Malay Red Flash (Rapala damona)
On this 365th day of 2025 and the final day of the year, we reflect on the how the year flew by and wonder if we had achieved what we promised ourselves to do for the year. Or is it another year gone by with our new year resolutions still unfulfilled? As we look ahead to a new year and 2026 is just round the corner, and in less than 24 hours, what will the new year bring? More volatility and uncertainty?
Already, the world has become pretty unstable with potential bilateral flash points between several countries around the globe. The Russia-Ukraine war is still ongoing, even if the publicity and news have gone generally quiet after so many years of conflict. It is the same story with Israel in the Gaza Strip and a generally unstable Middle East. Then there is the recent China-Japan spat which involves Taiwan which has long been a flashpoint between two world superpowers. The recent India-Pakistan clashes, and closer to home, the skirmishes between Thailand and Cambodia. Peace is often taken for granted, and humanity painfully missing in many of these conflicts.
Speaking of humanity or lack thereof, a sad example is the mid-December terrorist shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia. How can any human harbour so much hate to just gun down innocent people who were part of the Hanukkah celebrations called Chanukah by the Sea at Bondi Beach. Fifteen innocent people lost their lives, and one of the gunmen was also shot dead by police. It was described as a targeted attack on the Jewish community in Australia by the radicalised father-and-son shooters.
A male Malay Red Flash feeding on the flowers of the String Bush (Cordia cylindostachya)
December was also the time for sportsmanship and the 33rd SEA games in Bangkok. Our little red dot Singapore sent its largest contingent to participate in the games and ended up in 5th position with 202 medals (52 golds) in the 10-nation regional games. It was touted as Singapore's "best medal performance at an away Games". Not bad for a small island nation of only 6.11M residents!
A female Malay Red Flash perched on the upperside of a leaf in the nature reserves
We look back to our more peaceful butterfly world by celebrating our December 2025 Butterfly of the Month - the Malay Red Flash (Rapala damona). It was a recent re-discovery and added to the Singapore checklist some time in December 2017. Validation of the existence of this species in Singapore was further made after its full life history was recorded this year on two caterpillar host plants, Singapore Rhododendron (Melastoma malabathricum) and String Bush (Cordia cylindostachya).
A male Malay Red Flash showing its red and black uppersides.
On the upperside, the female is entirely brown whereas the male is deep red with broad black border on the forewing. As with other Rapala spp., the male has an oval-shaped brand in space 7 on the hindwing. On the underside, both sexes are ochreous brown. The markings are typical for Rapala spp, with cell-end bars on both wings, and narrow brown postdiscal bands. In the forewing, the postdiscal band is curved-in at the upper quarter.
The hindwing carries a white-tipped filamentous tail at the end of vein 2 with a tornal lobe between veins 1a and 1b. In addition, there is a black tornal spot, a bluish green patch in space 1b (about 80-100% filled), an orange-crowned (either pale orange, yellow or obscure), black sub-marginal spot in space 2, and black post-discal striae in spaces 1b and 2.
Three shots of male Malay Red Flash showing its upperside and underside
Like the other Rapala spp., the Malay Red Flash is skittish and flies rapidly amongst the shrubbery. It is well distributed, appearing at urban parks like Mt Faber, Bishan Park, as well as on the fringes of the nature reserves at Upper Seletar Reservoir Park and Lornie Park Connector. The eyes are hairy and jet black, whilst the antenna tips are orange. The legs are black-and-white banded. The Malay Red Flash is often difficult to ID as it looks similar to the Suffused Flash and Scarlet Flash.
Text by Khew SK : Photos by Khew SK, Koh CH, Loh MY, Low JK, Sebastian Ow, Zick Soh, Jonathan Soong and Horace Tan.
