Life History of the Metallic Caerulean

Life History of the Metallic Caerulean (Jamides alecto ageladas)

Butterfly Biodata:
Genus: Jamides Hübner , 1819
Species: alecto C. Felder, 1860
Sub-species: ageladas Fruhstorfer, 1915
Wingspan of Adult Butterfly: 35mm
Caterpillar Local Host Plants: Nicolaia elatior (Zingiberaceae, common name: Torch Ginger), Saraca cauliflora (Leguminosae, common name: Yellow Saraca)

Physical Description of Adult Butterfly:
The Metallic Caerulean is described as the largest species in the elpis subgroup, which is characterized by the post-discal band on the forewing beneath being completely dislocated at vein 3. The male of the species has a black diffuse border on the forewing, expanding to about 1mm at the apex and a series of black marginal spots on the hindwing. The female has the forewing border extending narrowly along the costa to the base. The Metallic Caerulean has bright metallic blue uppersides, and grey ground colour on the undersides with the usual white banding. On the hindwing, there is a black centred orange-crowned eyespot at the tornal area, with some additional submarginal orange markings along veins 1b and 4. There is a white-tipped filamentous tail at vein 2 of the hindwing.


A Metallic Caerulean perching on a flower.


Another Metallic Caerulean perching on a leaf blade.


A mating pair of Metallic Caerulean

Field Observations of Butterfly Behaviour:
This species was listed as being extant by pioneer researchers, but has not been seen in recent years until a colony was sighted and identified in the second half of 2008 thriving in the vicinity of a cluster of Torch Ginger plants by ButterflyCircle members. The adults have a rather quick but erratic flight, and for most of the day, are active and fly in a small area encircling the host plants. Males tend to stay higher up and chase each other in the bright sunshine. Very often both sexes stop to rest in the shade on the uppersides of leaves and demonstrates the movement of the hindwings and tails in the usual Lycaenid fashion. The male has also been found to puddle on bird droppings.

Early Stages:

The local host plant, Nicolaia elatior (Torch Ginger) is a herbaceous perennial plant and grows in large clumps up to about 6m tall. The elongated leaves occur in two alternate rows above the stem. It has showy and pinecone-shaped flower heads, each about 7-10cm long, subtended by large crimson or pink bracts and seated on a long stalk. Various parts of the Torch Ginger are known to have folk medicinal uses.


Torch Ginger: flower (left) and tall clump (right).


A mother Metallic Caerulean laying her eggs on a Torch Ginger flower.

Following the recent discovery of Saraca cauliflora being utilized by two other member species of the elpis subgroup, a successful attempt was made to breed Metallic Caerulean on the Saraca flowers. This establishes the possibility that Saraca cauliflora is an alternate host plant in the wild. The life history recorded and reported in this article is based on two Metallic Caerulean specimens being bred on the Saraca flowers throughout their larval phase.


Yellow Saraca: flowers (left) and leaves and seed pod (right).

Eggs of Metallic Caerulean are laid singly on an inflorescence of Torch Ginger, typically on the pinecone-like scales above the waxy bract. However due to the large size of the inflorescence, it is not uncommon to find several eggs on one single inflorescence. The egg is disc-like (about 0.8mm in diameter) with a depressed micropylar, and light green in colour. The surface is covered with a reticulated pattern of intersecting ridges, coarse on the rim, but very finely sculptured on the top flat face.


Two views of an egg of the Metallic Caerulean, diameter is about 0.8mm

The collected eggs took two days to hatch. The young caterpillar emerges after nibbling away sufficiently large portion of the egg shell. Measured at a length of about 1.2mm, its pale yellow body is cylindrical in shape, sporting long fine setae (hairs) and a dark head capsule. One can just barely make out the dark brown prothoracic shield which lies immediately behind the head.


A newly hatched caterpillar of the Metallic Caerulean, length: 1.2mm

The newly hatched grazes on the surface of flower petals or bores into a flower bud for the goodies within. Later instar caterpillars also eat the pedicel of the flowers. As it feeds and grows, it gradually takes on a pale red to pinkish tinge.


1st instar caterpillars; Lengths: 2mm (bottom); 2.5mm (top)

After about 2-3 days of growth and reaching a length of about 2.5 to 3mm, the caterpillar moults to the next instar. The 2nd instar caterpillar has a yellowish brown base color, and reddish brown markings running dorsally and laterally. The body surface appears to be covered with tiny black spots. There are still fine setae but these are now much shorter in proportion compared to those in 1st instar. The prothoracic shield is still dark brown in colour.


Two views of 2nd instar caterpillar, lengths: 3mm (top); 4mm (bottom).

The 2nd instar caterpillar reaches a length of about 5mm, and after about 2-3 days in this stage, it moults again. The 3rd instar caterpillar has proportionately shorter but still numerous body setae. There are dorsal and lateral markings, in light reddish brown, running along body axis. The most prominent change is in the color of the prothoracic shield to the body base color of yellowish brown, and also in the color of head capsule to yellowish brown. The dorsal nectary organ (on the 7th abdominal segment) is present but not marked prominently with any colored rings or markings. The tentacular organ is also observable at this stage.


A Metallic Caerulean caterpillar newly moulted to the 3rd instar.
Note the discarded larval skin and head capsule.


3rd instar caterpillar, length: 5mm (top); 7mm

The 3rd instar takes 2.5-3 days to complete with the body length reaching about 7.5-8mm. The 4th (and final) instar caterpillar is similar in appearance to the 3rd instar caterpillar. Overall, the caterpillar appears to be more yellowish in this instar. The body setae are now much shorter, and the prothoracic shield is paler than the body base color.

A Metallic Caerulean caterpillar seen in the end stage of its moult to the 4th instar.


4th instar caterpillar, early in this stage, length: 8mm


4th (final) instar caterpillar, late in this stage. Lengths: 12mm (top), 14mm (bottom).

After 5-6 days of growth and reaching a maximum length of around 14mm in the final instar, the body of the caterpillar gradually shrinks, and decolorizes to a very pale yellow coloration. Both bred specimens chose to enter their pre-pupatory phase on the surface of leaves provided. At the chosen spot, the caterpillar readies itself for pupation by spinning a silk girdle and a silk pad. The caterpillar secures itself to the silk pad via claspers on its posterior end.


Two views of a pre-pupa of the Metallic Caerulean,

Pupation takes place after one day of the pre-pupal stage. The pupa has the typical lycaenid shape. It is pale yellowish and decorated lightly with a few brown and black specks. The pupa has a length of about 9.5mm.


Two views of a fresh pupa of the Metallic Caerulean.

Six days later, the pupa becomes darkened in color signaling the imminent emergence of the adult. The markings on the upperside of the forewing become visible through the pupal skin, and it is now possible to tell the gender of the soon-to-emerge adult. The next day the adult butterfly emerges from the mature pupa.


Mature pupae: Female (top); Male (bottom). Note the difference in the extent of the
bluish patches in the wing pads.


A newly eclosed female Metallic Caerulean


A newly eclosed Metallic Caerulean male.

References:

• The Butterflies of The Malay Peninsula, A.S. Corbet and H.M. Pendlebury, 4th Edition, Metallic Caerulean Nature Society.
• Butterflies of Thailand, Pisuth Ek-Amnuay, 1st Edition, 2006

Text by Horace Tan, Photos by Henry Koh, Anthony Wong, Mark Wong, Sunny Chir, Khew SK and Horace Tan

Common Three Ring - A Cinderella of Butterflies

The Common Three Ring - a Cinderella of Butterflies

In his book, Common Malayan Butterflies, author R. Morrell describes the Common Three Ring (Ypthima pandocus corticaria) as "a poor Cinderella of butterflies, so common that no one has troubled to observe its life history". Indeed, most photographers also tend to ignore this "unattractive" species and prefer to shoot other prettier subjects.

Butterflies of the genus Ypthima are generally called by their English Common names derived from the yellow-ringed submarginal eyespots on the hindwing. The larger ring on the forewing is not counted. Furthermore, the pair of small rings at the tornal area of the hindwing counts as a single ring. Hence in the Common Three Ring, there are three ocelli on the hindwing.

Other related species of the genus are named after the number of rings - four, five and six, in a similar fashion. The other species are not featured in this short article.

The Common Three Ring is thought to "almost dispute the claim of the Common Grass Yellow (Eurema hecabe contubernalis) to be regarded as the commonest butterfly in Malaya". In Singapore, that is certainly not the case, as the Common Three Ring, whilst relatively common, is not as widespread as its yellow competitor. Found locally at various spots at the fringes of the nature reserves, it is not common in urban parks and gardens, where its cousin, the Common Five Ring appears to be more often observed.

The caterpillar of the Common Three Ring feed on grasses, and we have recorded the early stages to be surprisingly long - a period of about 38 days from egg to pupation, for a butterfly that is supposedly common.

A 4th instar caterpillar and a pupa of the Common Three Ring

The species is the largest of the genus Ypthima in Singapore. It is greyish brown above, with a large subapical black yellow-ringed ocellus on the forewing. There are two silvery spots in the black ocellus. On the hindwing, there is a similar but smaller subtornal ocellus, and another pair at the tornal area. The underside is greyish to pale buff brown, with the wings traversed by innumerable fine dark brown striations where the hindwing has three yellow-ringed black submarginal ocelli.

The Common Three Ring is somewhat variable in its markings and even size. It is a weak flyer, usually staying just a few feet above from the ground. It prefers flying amongst low grasses and does not usually fly far if undisturbed. In the early morning hours, it has a tendency to sunbathe with its wings opened flat. However, it is quite alert, and takes a bit of patience to get a good shot of it.

Where it is found, usually several individuals are seen together. In Singapore, the species is usually found at grassy patches and often flies in the company of other species of the Bush Browns (Mycalesis) and Nigger (Orsotriaena) genera.

Text by Khew SK : Photos by Khew SK

References :

• Common Malayan Butterflies - R. Morrell, 1960, Longman Malaysia
• Malaysian Butterflies - An Introduction, 1993 3rd impression - Prof Yong Hoi-sen, Tropical Press Sdn Bhd
• The Butterflies of The Malay Peninsula, A.S. Corbet and H.M. Pendlebury, 1992, 4th Edition, Malayan Nature Society.

Earth Hour 2009

Earth Hour 2009 - What did you do?

No, I didn't inadvertently upload a blank photo. The black frame above is meant to signify the darkness that engulfed my house, from 8:30pm this evening, and for one full hour, as my family of four switched off all the lights, aircon and non-essential appliances in support for Earth Hour 2009. We then went for an evening stroll around our housing estate and spent quality family time together.

Earth Hour is an annual international event created by the WWF, held on the last Saturday of March, that asks households and businesses to turn off their non-essential lights and electrical appliances for one hour; Based on an idea successfully executed in Thailand in 2005, it was pioneered by WWF Australia and the Sydney Morning Herald in 2007.

As I explained to my kids, the act of switching off the lights and other electrical appliances in the house is a symbolic gesture. It is to create a mindset and awareness of climate change, and the impact that our everyday habits can make to the environment. Although environmental sustainability is an issue that almost everyone in most professions talk about, the belief and commitment varies from person to person.

Singapore participated in Earth Hour 2009 in a much bigger way than in 2008, and from media reports, at least 10,000 people and 450 companies, hotels, malls and schools will switch off their lights for an hour at 8.30pm, as part of the global Earth Hour energy conservation effort. The gesture is totally voluntary, and depends on how each individual perceives the need to change for a better world.

However, not all Singaporeans think very much about the whole issue, and a poll showed that over half of those interviewed did not know about it, and of the remaining who knew, many didn't think that it was worth bothering about. Overall, about 30% polled said that they would join in the effort.

Climate change and global warming will affect all life on earth as we know it - even our beloved butterflies. There have been studies to show that the rise of ambient temperatures have an effect on the diversity and population of species across the globe.

Yes, switching off lights, aircon and electrical appliances for one hour is probably just a pointless gesture to many people. But if you did, it is a vote that you will make changes in your life so that you will consider what you can do, in your own little way, to reduce your carbon footprint. The message here, is not about that 1 hour, but what happens after that.

So what did you do from 8:30pm to 9:30pm on Saturday 28 Mar 2009?

Text by Khew SK

Life History of the Malayan

Life History of the Malayan (Megisba malaya sikkima)

Butterfly Biodata:
Genus: Megisba Moore, 1881
Species: malaya Horsfield, 1828
Sub-species: sikkima Moore, 1884
Wingspan of Adult Butterfly: 21mm
Caterpillar Local Host Plants: Mallotus paniculatus (Euphorbiaceae, common name: Turn-In-The-Wind)

Physical Description of Adult Butterfly:
The Malayans are small butterflies. Above, both sexes are dark brown with a white discal patch which is more prominent in the female. The underside is white to dull grey. The forewing has a series of costal spots, one spot in the cell, a cell-end bar, a postdiscal curved series of transverse spots or short bars from costa to dorsum, a submarginal series of broader transverse spots and a thin anticiliary line. The hindwing has three spots near base in transverse order, a large prominent black spot near the apex, a cell-end bar, a broken postdiscal series of faint spots, and as in the forewing, a submarginal series of broad transverse spots and a thin anticiliary line. A pair of short tails is found at end of vein 2 in the hindwing. Elsewhere in the region these tails might be absent in some races, but the species found in Singapore has consistently been found to possess the tails.


One Malayan perching on a leaf in the nature reserve.


Another Malayan on another perch.

Field Observations of Butterfly Behaviour:
The Malayan was not recorded as being extant in Singapore by early researchers, and it was only discovered recently in surveys conducted during '90s. A casual look would easily have one mistaken it for the Common Hedge Blue (Acytolepis puspa lambi). The two species can be separated by checking the color of the upperside and the presence/absence of costal spots on the forewing underside. The adults of the Malayan have a weak erratic flight and can be found both the nature reserves and the Southern Ridges in wooded areas, particularly in the vicinity of its local host plant. The males have been observed to puddle on damp patches, animal dung and bird droppings.

Early Stages:

Mallotus paniculatus is a bushy tree with ovate and pointed leaves about 12-17cm long. The leaves are whitish to pale brown and thinly scurfy on the underside. Fruits are 3-lobed spiny, about 1-1.2cm wide, and are found on large panicles. This is a common tree found in waste lands, track sides in the nature reserves and the Southern Ridges. The early stages of the Malayan feed on the flower buds and flowers of this host plant.


Clusters of flower buds of Mallotus paniculatus.

Eggs of Malayan are laid singly at a flower bud, rachies or pedicel near the flower buds. The egg is small (about 0.4-0.5mm in diameter) and light green in colour, circular with a slightly depressed micropylar area and a reticulated pattern of intersecting ridges.


A mother butterfly laying her eggs at a cluster of flower buds of Mallotus paniculatus.


An egg of the Malayan laid among the flower buds, diameter: 0.4mm-0.5mm.

An egg of the Malayan: Freshly laid (left); Empty egg shell (right).

Three days later, hatching takes place after the young caterpillar has nibbled away sufficiently large upper portion of the egg shell to emerge. Measured at a length of about 0.8mm-0.9mm, its pale yellow body is cylindrical in shape, sporting long fine setae (hairs) and a dark head capsule.


A newly hatched caterpillar of the Malayan, length: 0.8mm

With the egg laid amongst or near the flower buds, the newly hatched has no problem finding its food supply. It works its way through the tomentous surface of the flower buds and bore into it for the goodies within. As it feeds and grows, it gradually takes on a pale brown base color with series of small pale yellow patches running sub-dorsally and spiracularly.


Two 1st instar caterpillars feeding on flower buds, length: 1.2mm

After about 3-4 days of growth and reaching a length of about 2mm, the caterpillar moults to the next instar. The 2nd instar caterpillar resembles the late 1st instar caterpillar in body color and markings, but the setae are now much shorter in proportion.


Two 2nd instar caterpillar, early in this stage, length: 1.8mm



2nd instar caterpillar, length: 2.5mm

The 2nd instar caterpillar reaches a length of about 4mm, and after about 4 days in this stage, it moults again. The 3rd instar caterpillar has proportionately shorter but still numerous body hairs. The sub-dorsal pale whitish patches run from the 2nd thoracic segment to the 6th abdominal segment, larger on the first twto segments. The dorsal nectary organ (on the 7th abdominal segment) is ringed in dark brown markings. This instar takes 3-4 days to complete with the body length reaching about 5.5-6mm.


3rd instar caterpillar, length: 4mm

3rd instar caterpillar, late in this stage, length: 5mm

The 4th (and final) instar caterpillar is more striking in general appearance as there are prominent white patches interleaved with smaller pale brown to green patches. There are numerous tiny "asterick"-shaped specks, of white, brown and green coloration, sited at the base of setae. These structures could serve as mechano-receptors or might be glandular in nature. At a larger scale, the typical lycaenid nectary organs (both the dorsal nectary organ on the 7th abdominal segment and tentacular organs on the 8th abdominal segment) are now easily spotted.

4th instar caterpillar, length: 7mm


4th instar caterpillar, length: 9.5mm


Left: Dorsal nectary organ (DNO) and tentacular organs (TOs) on posterior segments;
Right: Prothoracic shield and anterior segments

After 5 days of growth and reaching a maximum length of around 8.5-9.5mm in the final instar, the body of the caterpillar gradually shrinks, and takes on a pinky coloration. Soon the caterpillar seeks out a spot on the stem amongst the flower buds or the surface of an adjacent leaf to station itself. At this site, it enters the pre-pupatory phase where it readies itself for pupation by spinning a silk girdle and a silk pad. The caterpillar secures itself to the silk pad via claspers on its posterior end.


Two views of a pre-pupa of the Malayan.

Pupation takes place after one day of the pre-pupal stage. The pupa has the typical lycaenid shape. It is pale yellowish brown with a hint of pink. The surface is covered with a layer of short fine hair, and decorated with a few brown and black specks. Each pupa has a length of about 6.5-7.5mm.


Two views of a fresh pupa of the Malayan.

Five 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 to begin the next phase of its life cycle.


Two views of a mature pupa of the Malayan.


A newly eclosed Malayan.


Another newly eclosed Malayan

References:

• The Butterflies of The Malay Peninsula, A.S. Corbet and H.M. Pendlebury, 4th Edition, Malayan Nature Society.

Text by Horace Tan, Photos by Sunny Chir, James Chia and Horace Tan