Enchanting Endau Rompin

Enchanting Endau Rompin

A Butterfly Blogger's Tale of ER (Selai)

A little background on Endau Rompin

Endau Rompin is the second designated national park in Peninsular Malaysia. Its name is derived from two rivers through the park, the Endau River in the south in the state of Johor and the Rompin River in the state of Pahang in the north. With rock formations dating back some 248 million years, Endau-Rompin is mostly hilly with some prominent sandstone plateaus. It is the watershed of several rivers such as Endau River, Selai River and Jasin River.


A map showing the location of ER. Compare the size of the national park with Singapore island!

Selai is the western gateway to Endau Rompin Johore National Park . An Orang Asli legend has it that there was once a celestial princess who possessed the power of innate body heat . When she descended upon Earth , the scorching heat that emanated from her body led to a drought. This caused the mighty river that flowed from Gunong Besar to be reduced to a mere trickle- the size of of a strip of rattan - or "sehalai rotan". Hence forever after, the river was called Selai, and the park that was later created there took this name. It is home to one of the world’s oldest rainforests as well as unique flora and fauna, including the endangered Sumatran Rhino.

Selai was officially opened to public in 2003. It is the second gateway to the Endau Rompin Johor, National Park. The park has an area of 48,000 hectares of which 2/3 is located at Selai. Selai is named after Kampung Selai, an Orang Asli village near the entrance.Bekok, the nearest town to the Park, is about 26 km to Selai. Selai is the land of endless waterfalls. Countless waterfalls - great and small are found inside the park. They are really the jewel of the forest. Some of the well-known waterfalls are Takah Tinggi, Takah Pandan, Takah Berangin &Takah Beringin.

The Journey

Over a weekend in May, a small group of butterfly enthusiasts from Butterfly Circle including local entomologist Khew SK, Sunny and Irene Chir, the twins Mark and Anthony Wong, Ellen Tan, butterfly gurus from Kuala Lumpur, LC Goh and Koh Samui, Les Day made their journey to Endau Rompin beginning with an unearthly 5 a.m. train ride from KTM Tanjong Pagar Railway Station to the small rustic town of Bekok near Segamat.

Train station at Bekok (smallest one I've ever seen!) and we hopped off the train onto the railway tracks with our baggage, and we're good to go!


A quick stop to register ourselves at the Johor Parks HQ, a bumpy 26km ride, and we reached Lubuk Tapah Base camp

We were also honoured to have Dr. Jeff Lum from Malayan Nature Society , Johore (MNSJ) joining us for the trip. From the sleepy town of Bekok, the little group rodeo-cowboyed up to Lubuk Tapah camp site in two rented 4X4 vehicles through the Johor Endau Rompin West entrance. The beautiful scenery of rolling hills, amazingly tall trees and the cool breeze through the jolting open windows was nothing short of breathtaking.And no sooner than when we had passed through the gantry point (which consisted of nothing but a humble iron bar and a smiling local standing next to it), the butterflies began to make their presence felt.We found ourselves stopping to identify passing Papilionidae along the mud road and craning our necks out of our windows to get a closer look.

Lubuk Tapah Base Camp

When we arrived at Lubuk Tapah, we were immediately welcomed by several brilliantly coloured red-naped Rajah Brooke Birdwing (Troides brookiana mollumar). A shallow river runs through Lubuk Tapah lined with leaves and filled with fish.

At the sandy banks of the river, many species of butterflies came down to puddle in the hot humid weather.

To get that 'perfect' shot, photographers, male or female, often have to endure some slight inconveniences

Along the sandy river banks, various usually high-flying papilionidae like the Great Mormon, Tailed Jay, Red Helen and Blue Helen came down to puddle alongside a Lesser Albatross, a tiny visiting Maplet and a favourite with the group – The Red Spot Sawtooth (Prioneris philonome themana).

The river at our campsite begins and ends with a small rushing waterfall, on which you can sit and soak in the sights and sounds of Lubuk Tapah: Great Mormons flying overhead, damselflies resting on wet rocks near the waterfall, torrent frogs quietly hopping along the rocky banks and birdsong echoing from the trees while cool, clean springwater water rushes all around you, running through your clothes, your hair and your toes.

A cool refreshing dip after a hot day out shooting butterflies

Lubuk Tapah runs on generator at night from around 7p.m. to 11p.m., after which the camp is plunged in the blackness of rainforest night. Unlike city folk ideas of eerie silence and pitch darkness, Lupuk Tapah is a nocturnal symphonic cacophony of calls, whistles and croaks in a blanket of night pierced by the occasional sparks of dancing fireflies.

On The Trail Of The Green Dragontail

On Day 2, we trekked 3km from our campsite to a site where some of us had hoped to revisit the elusive and skittish Green Dragontail (Lamproptera meges virescens). After waiting a considerable time for it, most of us got away with a record shot of the extremely shy but dazzlingly designed butterfly.

Along the trail, we encountered the following beauties...

On the morning of Day 3, the group was up bright and early, and set out towards one of the nearer waterfalls. The narrow, slippery path proved to be quite difficult for shooting butterflies for a gang of 7 trigger-happy photographers, so some of us turned back and headed towards base camp. Shortly afterwards, the cloudy conditions weren't really conducive for the shady trail, and the whole group headed back towards the main road where more butterflies were expected to be.

A few of the photographers were extremely fortunate to come across the Banded Harlequin (Paralaxita orphna laocoon) with the help of the eagle-eyed Orang Asli guide, Jafri.

A rare Riodinid, the Banded Harlequin stopped to say Hi!

On an ending note, intending travelers with SLRs and other electrical devices should be aware that Endau Rompin is a rainforest and that preventative measures should be taken for the possible amount of moisture that might get in your expensive camera systems. That includes not getting in the river with your camera to photograph butterflies even though that’s hard to resist at times. Because of the moisture, don’t count on recycling your trailwear by washing them and leaving them out in the sun because they never seem to dry out fast enough. Photographers intending to go off-trail into the brush should also wear leech socks or pantyhose (Sunny's new anti-leech weapon!) to disappoint the dozens of leeches waiting to go home with you.

A lifer shot of the Small Redeye (Gangara sanguinoccolus) a very rare Hesperiidae which was found on the leech-infested Bertam Island.

But all too soon, it was time to go home, and our 4x4 drivers were ready to pack us off back to Bekok Town and the train station. After a pit stop at a local kopi tiam for some refreshments, we were back at the little Bekok train station platform, and waiting for the train to arrive. The journey home was uneventful, with the usual train delays, and we reach little ol' Singapore after 7pm, weary, bone-tired, hungry but happy and looking forward to the next ER trip!

A Group shot for the album!
L-R / Front : Sunny, Irene, Ellen, Mark, LC Back : Anthony, Khew, Les, Jeff

Text by Ellen Tan & Khew SK : Photos by : Anthony Wong, LC Goh, Les Day, Mark Wong, Sunny Chir, Ellen Tan and Khew SK

Another Re-Discovery for Singapore!

ButterflyCircle Records another Re-Discovery for Singapore!
The Moth Butterfly

It's a Moth! It's a Butterfly! It's a... Moth Butterfly!?

ButterflyCircle member Sunny Chir was out on his usual hunts in Singapore's nature reserves and was chasing a skittish Bamboo Tree Brown when this unusual deformity flew and perched nearby. After getting a few record shots and maneuvering for a better position, the unidentified took off erratically.

When he posted the shot, it raised a few eyebrows, but the initial thought was that this was just a deformed butterfly (or moth). Then entered our veteran butterfly expert from Koh Samui, Les Day, who suggested that it could be a Moth Butterfly (Liphyra brassolis abbreviata). A few clicks of the mouse on the usual Internet search engines (isn't technology great?), and we found several sites which featured pictures of the species that matched what Sunny shot.

So we welcome species #293 (the total number on the Singapore checklist is still be sorted out with a few previous finds yet to be validated) to Singapore. It was recorded in the checklists of the early authors and the two definitive references for the Malaysian and Singaporean butterflies, "Butterflies of the Malay Peninsula" and "Butterflies of West Malaysia and Singapore" both recorded Liphyra brassolis abbreviata to be extant in Singapore.

Thus far, it has not been seen - until now in May 2009, that it has been spotted and recorded with a high level of certainty.

The Moth Butterfly as Liphyra brassolis abbreviata is called belongs to the subfamily Miletinae of the family Lycaenidae. It is described as "of very large size, stout build and moth like appearance. The palpi are very small, and the proboscis is wholly atrophied, so that the adult cannot feed".

The wings of the Moth Butterfly are brownish orange with black distal spots and borders on both wings. In the male, the borders are much broader. The undersides are paler and browner with the markings obscure. The species is crepuscular, and the flight is erratic and moth-like.

The caterpillar of the Moth Butterfly is carnivorous, like the majority of the species in the sub-family Miletinae, and in Malaysia and Singapore, is known to feed on the larvae of the Weaver Ant, Oecophylla smaragdina, better known locally as the Kerengga ants. The caterpillar lives in the nests of the ants, feeding off their young. As it features a smooth, elliptical shape, with a rim around the periphery, giving it an almost "tank-like" armour which protects the caterpillars from the ants. Pupation also takes place in the ants' nest in a hardened skin which serves again as an armoured carapace for the pupa. The wings and thorax of the newly eclosed adult butterfly are covered with loose white scales, whilst the abdomen is covered with buff-coloured filamentous scales both of which are used as a protection against the ants, whose antennae, mandibles and legs are enmeshed with the scales. Thus distracted, the ants busy themselves with removing these obstructions from themsleves, the butterfly crawls out of the nest and makes its escape to freedom.

This site by Kudo Seiya shows pictures of the early stages of the Moth Butterfly and also shots of the adult butterfly.

The video below (link provided by Keith Wolfe of USA) shows the amazing adaptation and survival techniques of how the caterpillar protects itself from any attack by the ants, whilst helping itself to the ants' larvae!

After all this time, we now know for certain that this very rare species of butterfly still exists in little Singapore!

Text by Khew SK : Photos by Sunny Chir

References & Acknowledgments :

• The Butterflies of The Malay Peninsula, A.S. Corbet and H.M. Pendlebury, 4th Edition, Malayan Nature Society.
• Photos of early stages and adult butterflies by Kudo Seiya
• Link to YouTube video of the Moth Butterfly from Keith Wolfe

Life History of the Malayan Plum Judy

Life History of the Malayan Plum Judy (Abisara saturata kausambioides)

Butterfly Biodata:
Genus: Abisara C. & R. Felder, 1860
Species: saturata Moore, 1878
Subspecies: kausambioides de Nicéville, 1896
Wingspan of Adult Butterfly: 45mm
Caterpillar Local Host Plants: Ardisia elliptica (Myrsinaceae), Embelia ribes (Myrsinaceae).

Physical Description of Adult Butterfly:
Above, the male is deep crimson brown and entirely unmarked; the female is much paler and has a diffuse white subapical patch on the forewing, and black submarginal spots in spaces 1b, 4 and 5 on the hindwing. Underneath, for both sexes, the underside is paler, and each wing has a pair of diffuse, pale-purplish, post-discal bands. The outer band on the hindwing has a series of black, white-edged, submarginal spots in spaces 1b, 4, 5 and 6, that in space 1b being double. The female has broader and paler transverse lines than the male. In both sexes the hindwing is prominently angled at vein 4.


A female Malayan Plum Judy perching on a leaf.

Another female Malayan Plum Judy


A sunbathing male Malayan Plum Judy in an urban hill park.



Anothe male Malayan Plum Judy in the Southern Ridges.


Left: A male Malayan Plum Judy opening its wings to sunbathe.
Right: Another male with half-open wings, the angle at which light reflected gives the
lustrous blue appearance

Field Observations of Butterfly Behaviour:
The adults are often seen perching on leaves with half open wings, turning and hopping from one perch to the next. They only take flights on bright sunny days. This species was only sighted in the Island of Pulau Tekong before the turn of the century. In recent years, it has appeared in numbers on the main Singapore island where its host plant, Ardisia elliptica, are thriving. It is now considered a resident species in the Southern Ridges where both of its recorded local host plants, A. elliptica and E. ribes, can be found.

Early Stages:
The host plant, A. elliptica, is a large shrub or small tree. The leaves are simple, alternate, grandulate, obovate and leathery, 8-12 cm long and have nearly invisible nerves. The pink flowers occur 6 to 8 in an umbel. In the wild, the plant grows in tidal swamps and muddy river banks. In urban settings, this plant has been commonly cultivated as hedges. The other host plant, Embelia dasythyrsa, is a woody climber with simple, alternate and lanceolate leaves. This plant is found along trails in the Central Catchment Nature Reserves and the Southern Ridges. The immature stages of the Malayan Plum Judy feed on the relatively young leaves of the host plant, typically on the underside. The first instar caterpillars graze on the leaf surface, and the later instars nibble along the leaf edges. Between feeds, the caterpillars of all instars rests on the leaf underside.

Host plant : Ardisia elliptica


Host plant: Embelia ribes.


Left: A mating pair of Malayan Plum Judy; Right: a female Malayan Plum Judy ovipositing

Each egg is laid singly on the underside of a leaf on the host plant, typically close to the leaf edge. Each egg is pale translucent green, somewhat conical in shape with a base diameter of about 0.7mm. The surface is smooth and has a mid-level belt of fine hairs encircling the egg.

Two eggs of the Malayan Plum Judy. Diameter: 0.7mm.


Two views of a mature egg of the Malayan Plum Judy.
Both the mandible and setae are visible through the egg shell.

A time-lapse hatching sequence of a Malayan Plum Judy caterpillar.
The caterpillar nibbles away at the egg shell in clockwise manner
until the hole is large enough for its exit.

Two views of a newly hatched caterpillar, pausing before it goes on to finish the egg shell.

It takes about 4 days for the egg to hatch. The young caterpillar consumes part of the egg shell to emerge. With a length of about 1.9-2.0mm, it has a pale greenish and cylindrical body with long setae dorso-laterally (dark) and sub-spiracularly (white). The body color changes to a brighter shade of yellow with a green undertone as it feeds and grows.


Two views of a 1st instar caterpillar, late in this stage, length: 3mm


An 1st instar caterpillar showing us the result of its grazing work.

The first instar lasts for 2 days and the body length reaches about 3mm. Prior to the moult to 2nd instar, the body shortens and takes on a pumped up appearance. This shortening routine also occurs prior to each of the subsequent moults.


Before-and-after pic of the moult to the 2nd instar. Top: very late 1st instar;
Bottom: freshly emerged 2nd instar eating the excuvia (shed larval larval skin).

The body color of the 2nd instar caterpillar is yellow with a greenish undertone. Overall, the appearance is little changed from the 1st instar. This instar lasts for 3 days and the caterpillar grows to a length of about 6mm before the moult to the 3rd instar.


Two 2nd instar caterpillars, lengths: 4 and 4.5mm


Two views of 2nd instar caterpillar, late in this stage. length: 6mm.

The following before-and-after pictures features the moulting events for two caterpillars. The upper caterpillar moulted first, and the lower one followed suit minute later.

A sequence showing the moult to the 3rd instar for two Malayan Plum Judy caterpillars.
The third picture gives the time-lapse sequence for one of them.

The 3rd instar caterpillar is yellowish green with a much greater emphasis in green. The body surface is marked with numerous tiny whitish/pale-greenish markings. As the caterpillar grows rapidly in this instar, small dark spots appear dorsally between body segments. Laterally, similar spots also appear, one to each segment. After 3 days in this stage with the body length reaching a maximum of about 12mm, the next moult brings the caterpillar to its 4th and final instar.


Two 3rd instar caterpillars, early in this stage, length: 8mm.


Two views of a 3rd instar caterpillar, late in this stage, length: 12mm


A 3rd instar caterpillar, very late in this stage, prior to its moult, length: 10.5mm

The 4th instar caterpillar resembles the 3rd instar caterpillar but with a much denser set of sub-spiracular setae. The body is mainly green in color. The head, which is colored yellow in the first three instars, is now green/yellowish-green.


Two views of 4th instar caterpillar, early in this instar, lenght: 10.5mm.


Two views of a a 4th instar caterpillar, length: 20mm.

The 4th instar lasts for 4 days and the body grows up to a length of about 23-24mm. On the last day of this instar, the caterpillar ceases food intake and its body shrinks in length. It then finds a spot on the leaf underside where it spins a silk pad and a silk girdle to secure itself for the upcoming pupation event.


Two views of a pre-pupatory larve of the Malayan Plum Judy

After one day of the pre-pupal phase, pupation takes place. The light-green pupa has a diamond-shaped outline, being broad at mid-body and pointed at two ends. The body has two prominent black dorsal spots on the leading abdominal segment and a number of pale green spots, four to each segment, on the remaining segments. Laterally, there are some hairs running along the fringe of the body. Each pupa is 13-14mm in length.


Two views of a fresh pupa of the Malayan Plum Judy

Six days later, the pupa becomes darkened in color signaling the imminent emergence of the adult. The next day the adult butterfly emerges from the mature pupa.


Two views of the mature pupa of a male Malayan Plum Judy.


A newly eclosed male Malayan Plum Judy drying its wings near its pupal case

References:

• The Butterflies of The Malay Peninsula, A.S. Corbet and H.M. Pendlebury, 4th Edition, Malayan Nature Society.
• Life Histories of Asian Butterflies, Vol. II, Igarashi S. and Fukuda H., Tokai University Press, 2000.

Text by Horace Tan, Photos by Benedict Tay, Mark Wong, Sunny Chir and Horace Tan