Butterfly of the Month - December 2015

Butterfly of the Month - December 2015
The Lesser Darkwing (Allotinus unicolor unicolor)

It's the final month of the year 2015 as we feature our last Butterfly of the Month in this series that has been going on for the past eight years! We started way back in December 2007 with our first feature butterfly, the Malay Lacewing. So eight years and 97 butterflies later, we now showcase our 98th butterfly of the month for December 2015.

Note the extra long abdomen of the Lesser Darkwing

The monsoon season has begun a few weeks back, clearing our dreaded haze, and making our air safe to breathe again. The haze and the rainy season seems to have taken a severe toll on our butterfly population. There seems to be fewer butterflies out and about, particularly the forest-dependent species. Urban parks and gardens are still quite active with the common species visiting the flowering bushes, but numbers are generally much lower than previous years.

With NParks starting the biodiversity monitoring programme in collaboration with the nature community in Singapore, there will at least be a regular documentation of butterfly population in the coming years. The biodiversity surveys are done with the help of citizen science programmes and in collaboration with the public. This has the added benefit of getting a larger number of Singaporeans and the resident population more involved in nature conservation and community projects.

A pristine individual with a very distinct dentate hindwing

With more active community groups like the Seletar Country Club Butterfly garden group (under Mr Foo JL), the Tampines-Changkat Butterflygarden Interest Group, Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Butterfly Garden group and others, the nature conservation message is being effectively spread in the community and importantly, to the younger generation. This is encouraging, as there are now more butterfly enthusiasts working to conserve our butterfly diversity for future generations to enjoy.

NParks is also getting in the act, with programmes like BioBlitz and the biannual Butterfly Count across urban parks in Singapore. A Species-Recovery project is also being organised to make another attempt to save the Harlequin butterfly's habitat and help to conserve this species in Singapore. JTC is also being roped in to help with the conservation programme and this will take place in 2016.

Coming back to our Butterfly of the Month for December 2015, we feature a small-sized species from the subfamily Miletinae from the Lycaenidae family. The Miletinae is often referred to as the "Harvesters", probably due to their behaviour of predating on Homoptera like aphids, coccids, mealy bugs and even ant larvae! In my earlier article on this blog, entitled Mergers, Partnerships and Betrayals, the behaviour and feeding habits of the Miletinae are discussed.

A Lesser Darkwing rests amongst some grasses

We introduce our Butterfly of the Month, the Lesser Darkwing. The original name given for this butterfly was Lesser Darkie. However, due to racial sensitivities, the name of this butterfly was amended to Lesser Darkwing. This new common name was first suggested by Dr Laurence Kirton in his 2014 book, Butterflies of Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. We concur with the proposed name change, and have adopted it in the 2nd Edition of Butterflies of Singapore.

The Lesser Darkwing is a small butterfly, usually fluttering for long periods of time amongst bushes in the shade. The butterfly is usually looking for Homoptera and ant colonies that are tending to these Homoptera. Hence the distribution of this species is widespread, depending on plant species that are infested with aphids, coccids, membracids and mealy bugs.

A Lesser Darkwing perches on four of its six legs with the forelegs folded against its thorax

The Lesser Darkwing is dark brown on the upperside and unmarked, except for a short light greyish brand at vein 4 of the forewing in the male. The female has a more rounded forewing and is of a warmer reddish brown above. The hindwing margins are dentate, often more prominent in pristine individuals.

The ground colour of the underside is a greyish white and is highly variable, with a series of dark brown spots and light striations on both wings. The eyes of the Lesser Darkwing are yellowish-green. Despite having three fully developed pairs of legs, the butterfly prefers to fold its forelegs against its thorax, and use only two pairs of legs to support itself when at rest.

An ant checks out a Lesser Darkwing but not harming it

The species has a weak restless flight and prefers shaded forested areas where it flutters amongst the shrubbery. At times, it stops to rest with its wings folded upright, and if undisturbed, can stay in that position for long periods of time. It is curious to note that the Lesser Darkwing is quite comfortable in the presence of ants and strangely, the ants do not attack the butterfly.

And so we end the year 2015 with a inconspicuous and modest butterfly. A new year is just round the corner, and we will be doing our usual year-end review at the end of the month whilst looking ahead to a new and hopefully more butterfly-ful year in 2016!

Text by Khew SK : Photos by Sunny Chir, Chng CK, Khew SK, Koh CH and Loke PF.

Larval Host Plant for Butterflies: Turn-in-the-Wind

Butterflies' Larval Host Plants #5
Turn-in-the-Wind (Mallotus paniculatus)

This 5th instalment of our Butterflies' Larval Host Plants series features Turn-in-the-wind (Mallotus paniculatus), a species in Euphorbiaceae (spurge family) which is a large family of flowering plants with about 7,500 species. The members take on a variety of growth forms (trees, shrub, herb) with some having considerable economic significance (for examples, the Rubber Tree, Cassava and Castor Oil Plant). Turn-in-the-wind is a member which assumes the shrub and tree form. The name "paniculatus" refers to the branched state of the inflorescence.

Turn-in-the-wind is native to East Asia, Southeast Asia to North Australia. In Singapore, it is a common plant which can be found in multiple habitats including secondary forest reserve, wastelands. hill parks and gardens. Turn-in-the-wind proves to be a useful plant to human in various parts of the world. For examples, the root and leaves have medicinal uses while the bark and wood have been used in construction, making strings, matches, packing cases and paper pulp.

Plant Biodata :
Family : Euphorbiaceae
Genus : Mallotus
Species : paniculatus
Synonyms : Mallotus conchinchinensis, Croton appendiculatus
Country/Region of Origin : East Asia, Southeast Asia to North Australia
English Common Names : Panicled Mallotus, Turn-in-the-wind
Other Local Namezs : Balek angin, 白楸 , 白匏子
Larval Host for Butterfly Species: Megisba malaya sikkima (Malayan), Semanga superba deliciosa, Rapala pheretima sequeira (Copper Flash), Rapala dieneces dieneces (Scarlet Flash), Allotinus unicolor unicolor (Lesser Darkwing), Logania marmorata damis (Pale Mottle), Mooreana trichoneura trichoneura (Yellow Flat).

Left: A young plant of Turn-in-the-wind, about 1m tall. Right: A small tree form of the Turn-in-the-wind, about 3m tall.

Turn-in-the-wind is an evergreen plant which appears in shrub to small tree form up to 15m tall. The leaves are simple and tripli-veined (where the lowest pair of veinlets are much more conspicuous than others above them) and are arranged in alternate to apically subopposite manner. The petioles are greenish tawny and rather long. The young leaves are initially reddish brown.

The reddish brown young leaves.

Leaves of the Turn-in-the-wind, showing the leaf arrangement and long petioles.

Mature leaves are yellowish green to green on the upperside, whitish on the underside, and up to 15cm long. The common name "Turn-in-the-wind" comes from the fact that the long and slender petioles cause the leaves to twist even in slight breeze, showing the contrasting and whitish underside. Leaf shapes are variable with leaf margin entire to irregularly dentate, sometimes 2-lobed.

Left: leaf upperside; Right: leaf underside. Note the distinct contrast in colour between the two sides.

Leaves of the Turn-in-the-wind, showing variable leaf shapes.

There are two conspicuous nectary glands at leaf base on the upperside. The nectary fluid from these glands is a food source for various insects visiting or resident on the plant.

Ants attracted to the nectary glands at leaf base.

A final instar caterpillar of the Lesser Darkwing (Allotinus unicolor) enjoying the nectary fluid from the leaf glands.

Turn-in-the-wind is usually dioecious (having separate male and female plants), but occasionally monoecious forms do occur. Flowers are placed in panicles (much-branched inflorescence) which occur either terminally or axillary. Staminate (male) inflorescences are up to 45cm long with side branches to 28cm long. Each branch has up to 70 nodes, each of which bearing 3 to 7 flowers. The male flowers are small with pale yellow sepals and yellow anthers. Pistillate (female) inflorescences are up to 30cm long and up to 75 nodes per branch. The female flowers are 3-4mm in diameter and have yellow style and yellow stigma.

A male inflorescence of the Turn-in-the-wind, still at the flower-bud stage.

Left: A male inflorescence with flowers in bloom. Right: Close up view of an individual male flower among flower buds on the same branch.

A female inflorescence of the Turn-in-the-wind, still at the flower-bud stage.

Part of a female inflorescence of the Turn-in-the-wind.

Close-up views of individual flowers. Left: male; Right: female.

The 3-lobed fruits are greenish tawny and about 7mm in diameter. Each bears several hairy spines which are up to 7mm long. When ripened, the fruits split open to reveal small, globose seeds which are smooth and black.

A fruiting tree of the Tunr-in-the-wind at Mount Faber Park. The massive occurrence of the fruiting inflorescences turns the tree brownish in appearance.

A fruiting inflorescence.

Developing fruits.

Fully developed fruits.

Ripened fruits split open to reveal small, black seeds.

In Singapore, Turn-in-the-wind also serves as the larval host plant for seven butterfly species: Megisba malaya sikkima (Malayan), Semanga superba deliciosa, Rapala pheretima sequeira (Copper Flash), Rapala dieneces dieneces (Scarlet Flash), Allotinus unicolor unicolor (Lesser Darkwing), Logania marmorata damis (Pale Mottle), and Mooreana trichoneura trichoneura (Yellow Flat). The first six are lycaenid species, while the last one is a member of Hesperiidae (subfmaily: Pyrginae).

The Malayan.

Semanga superba deliciosa

Yelow Flat.

Eggs of the Malayan are typically laid among flower buds, whereas those for Semanga superba deliciosa, Copper Flash and Scarlet Flash are laid on young shoots. The Lesser Darkwing and the Pale Mottle are carnivorous species which feed on tree hoppers living on young shoots and inflorescences of the Turn-in-the-wind. Their eggs are typically laid at these sites and sometimes even directly onto the body of these scale insects. In contrast, the eggs of the Yellow Flat are laid on the upper surface of mature leaves, often concealed in a tuff of hair.

A female Malayan laying an egg among the female flower buds of the Turn-in-the-wind.

Close-up view of an egg of the Malayan laid between male flower buds of the Turn-in-the-wind.

Eggs of Semanga superba deliciosa laids on the petiole base in a young shoot.

Eggs of the Yellow Flat on the leaf upper surface.

Caterpillars of the Malayan feed on flower buds and flowers on the flower/fruit inflorescences while those of Semanga superba deliciosa and two Rapala spp. feed on young leaves and shoots. The two carnivorous spp. do not consume any plant parts but attack and feed on tree hoppers living on young shoots and inflorescences. The caterpillars of the Yellow Flat feed on leaf blades as well but live in a folded-up leaf shelters on a chosen leaf. All six lycaenid species have nectary glands which attract ants to attend to them.

A Malayan caterpillar feeding on male flower buds.

Another Malayan caterpillar feeding on male flower buds.

A  Semanga superba deliciosa caterpillar being attended by several ants on the underside of a leaf.

A  Scarlet Flash caterpillar being attended by several ants on the stem of a young shoot.

A  Copper Flash caterpillar imbibing nectory fluid while being attended by a weaver ant.

Leaf shelters of  early star caterpillars of the Yellow Flat.

Leaf shelter of a final instar caterpillar of the Yellow Flat.

A Lesser Darkwing caterpillar found on a fruiting inflorescense.

A Lesser Darkwing caterpillar eating a tree hopper.

Caterpillars of the Malayan typically choose to pupate near its feeding site on the inflorescence. Those of other five lycaenid species, ie. Semanga, two flashes and two carnivorous species, typically choose to pupate on the leaf surface, usually on the underside. The Yellow Flat, being a skipper species, pupates within the final leaf shelter utilized.

A pupa of the Malayan found among the flower buds of the Turn-in-the-wind.

Two views of a pupa of the Yellow Flat within a leaf shelter on a leaf of the Turn-in-the-wind.

With so many butterfly species utilizing Turn-in-the-wind as larval host, this plant is always a worthwhile target to check out whenever you encounter one during a walk in parks and the nature reserve. If luck is on you side, you might even find early stages of other butterfly species present, thus adding to the list of resident species on this amazing plant.

References:

• The Concise Flora of Singapore : Hsuan Keng Singapore University Press, 1990.
• 1001 Garden Plants in Singapore : Boo Chih Min, Kartini Omar-Hor and Ou-Yang Chow Lin, National Parks Board, 2nd Edition 2007.
• Mallotus paniculatus - Asianplant.net.
• Mallotus paniculatus, Useful Tropical Plants.
• Euphorbiaceae, Wikipedia.

Text and Photos by Horace Tan.

Butterfly of the Month - November 2015

Butterfly of the Month - November 2015
The Yellow Banded Awl (Hasora schoenherr chuza)


A Yellow Banded Awl in its typical upside-down pose on the underside of a leaf

Blue skies are back in Singapore! The prevailing winds have changed to the north-east monsoon winds, bringing with them the end-of-year wet season. The wet weather appears to have effectively extinguished the forest fires in Indonesia and with it, the haze is gone. It was a joy to see blue skies again, after so many weeks of miserable grey and hazy environment.

We often take our environment for granted, and the annual scourge of the haze from the massive land-clearing activities by just razing everything to the ground is over for now. It leaves us wondering how effective the Indonesian government will be, come next year during the dry season, and when illegal land-clearing by burning starts again. But until then, we welcome our clear air again (and it has nothing to do with the Indonesian government, though they claim that they "provide" the clean air) and the cooler weather at the end of the year.

It was an exciting month for ButterflyCircle, as we launched our 3rd book - only possible with the collective effort of many members of the group. The 2nd Edition of the Butterflies of Singapore is now out, and hopefully the updated book will benefit more nature lovers who indulge in butterfly watching in Singapore. We are now preparing the material for our next book project, but that will be a subject for another time.

A Yellow Banded Awl puddling at damp gravel along a jungle footpath

On the global scene, the disturbing ISIS extremism reared its ugly head in the city of Paris, where many innocent victims lost their life. This is not Islamic nor does it have anything to do with any religion! No religion teaches its subjects to take innocent lives in its name. This is the work of madmen and people who have lost their souls, if they even had a soul in the first place. Now they are planning on taking everyone else. Let's hope that the superpowers will eliminate this group of heartless killers to make our world a safer place to live in.

In my workplace, our "journey to the west" is complete, and about a 1,000 of us are now settled in to our new home at Westgate Tower. The logistics of moving such a big office was initially mind-boggling. The travelling time for more than half of our staff increased by quite a bit, but it is an adjustment out of our comfort zone that everyone took in their stride. The Jurong East hub of malls and facilities is quite amazing, and we look forward to the future with renewed inspiration.

The eleventh month of 2015 is almost over, and we feature a butterfly species from the family Hesperiidae. Skippers as we call them, are sometimes mistaken for moths due to their large eyes, fat and hairy bodies and the way they fly. However, they are usually classified as butterflies rather than moths. Many species are crepuscular and are on the wing at dawn and the early hours of the morning, and at dusk.

A Yellow Banded Awl puddling on a damp red brick wall

This month's feature butterfly is the Yellow Banded Awl (Hasora schoenherr chuza). This species is considered rare in Singapore, and is usually found in shaded forests in the nature reserves. It is one of five species of "Awls" from the genus Hasora found in Singapore. None of them can be considered common but they are seen single from time to time, and when there are flowering plants in bloom.

Upperside shot of a Yellow Banded Awl showing its forewing spots and hindwing yellow band

The Yellow Banded Awl is a plain dark brown on the upperside with four whitish sub-apical spots and several hyaline pale yellow spots conjoined to form an irregular band on the forewing. The hindwing features a broad yellow discal band and yellowish cilia . The underside is similarly marked but the wing base is a light golden brown. The apical area has a purplish sheen that is more prominent in some individuals, and also depending on the illumination in a side light.

The butterfly is regularly seen in the vicinity of its caterpillar host plants, Spatholobus ridleyi and Kunstleria ridleyi, both vines that grow mainly in Singapore's forested nature reserves. The Yellow Banded Awl flies rapidly, like most skippers, and is sometimes sensitive to the photographer's flash.

A Yellow Banded Awl in its typical pose under a leaf

Preferring the shaded understorey of the forested nature reserves, the butterfly has a habit of flying around speedily and then settling on the underside of a leaf to conceal itself. When disturbed, it takes off rapidly and then takes cover under another leaf, settling with its wings folded upright.  There are also occasions where the Yellow Banded Awl is observed to puddle on bird droppings and damp patches on tree trunks and walls of buildings.

5th instar caterpillar of the Yellow Banded Awl

The caterpillar of the Yellow Banded Awl, especially the late instars, is quite spectacular and is almost as pretty as the butterfly itself! Its bright red head is quite attractive and unique.

Text by Khew SK : Photos by Sunny Chir, Chng CK, Khew SK, Loke PF, Mei Hwang, Nelson Ong and Horace Tan