Maiden Flight - Butterflies of Singapore

Maiden Flight of A Field Guide to the Butterflies of Singapore
Book Launch 10-10-10



And so after three years of work in my spare time, it has come to pass that the Field Guide to the Butterflies of Singapore is finally completed and launched. Its maiden flight took place on 10 Oct 2010 - an auspicious date indeed, giving the 'perfect' 10 backdrop for a comprehensive book on Singapore's butterflies that has been long-awaited.

After a few initial disappointments and false starts, work on the book began in earnest some time in 2007 after I received a generous offer of a sponsorship for the book by Ms Ho Ching, Executive Director and CEO of Temasek Holdings. I was totally a newbie at authoring a book, and had little idea of the effort and time it would take to embark on such an undertaking. I had estimated about a year's worth of work. How wrong I was - it took me three!

The research and writing didn't take very much time, although I later discovered, with the help of my several proof-readers that there were quite a lot of mistakes, both technical and grammatical. Even the issues of the usage of English and writing style were subjects for debate amongst a few of us.

Then came the collection of photos from members of ButterflyCircle. For this, I must thank the spontaneous and generous contributions of the veterans and newbies of ButterflyCircle alike, who did not hesitate to share their work with me. It certainly made the book more complete and far more comprehensive that I would have been able to make it by myself.

The 370-page softcover book features a total of 291 of the current checklist of 295 species that we have recorded in Singapore. Of the remaining four, I only have voucher specimens and these are amongst the lookalike species for which I would not have been able to reliably identify from field shots. Of course, even as recently as just before the book went into print, ButterflyCircle members were already on the verge of validating a couple of new species, particularly from the Hesperiidae family. But that's another story for another future blog article.

When I started on the layout of the book, I had wanted to put in as much information on the butterfly as possible, but without compromising the size of the photo of the butterfly. I have seen many well-written books, but with only rather small photos, and that would have been a pity and would not have done justice to the excellent butterfly photography that ButterflyCircle members had produced.

Hence the layout of each page had one large primary photo and two smaller thumbnails that would depict either another angle or upperside/underside or male/female of the same species, where available. Scientific data like the author, year of description and so on were added, although the book features the English Common Name more prominently rather than the latin trinominal name. This is because the book is meant for the wider amateur enthusiast audience of all ages. However, care was also taken to ensure biological and taxonomic accuracy as far as possible.

The design, selection of colours, etc., were left in the capable hands of the talented designer from Ink On Paper Communications Pte Ltd, Ms Cressindie Santoso, who was well-advised by her experienced supervisors. Once the layout was settled and the colours for the various families confirmed, it was a matter of getting the best photos available and featuring each species as one would most likely encounter them in the field. In order to avoid a 'regimented' layout, I selected photos where the butterflies would face different directions (left/right/up/down) when viewed in the book, particularly on adjacent and facing pages.

The book launch was timed for 10am on 10 Oct 2010 at the Function Hall of the Botany Centre of the Singapore Botanic Gardens. The garden setting, I thought, was befitting of a book on Singapore's biodiversity and also a casual environment that would set everyone at ease.

Guests and ButterflyCircle members mingle outside the Function Hall

Special thanks to Dr Wong Wei Har, Director of the Singapore Botanic Gardens, for the arrangements that she helped to facilitate to get the premises for the launch.

Guest registration

The invited guests started streaming in as early as 9:15am, and our hardworking volunteers from ButterflyCircle handled all the registration, issuing of book vouchers, ushering and so on very efficiently and without a hitch!

Our official photographers were also out shooting candid shots of everyone! Thanks, Bobby, Loke, Sunny, Ellen and Ke-yang!

Very soon it was time for the Guest of Honour to arrive, and our pretty MC, Kamesha, made the announcement for everyone to be seated in the hall to await the Guest of Honour. Ms Ho arrived on the dot, and the launch proceedings started. I met her at the drop-off point with my wife, and led her to the hall.

We observed a minute's silence as a mark of respect to the late Mrs Lee Kuan Yew, who had passed away just a week before.

After a short welcome address and a slide show of some of my favourite shots from the book, the MC invited the Guest of Honour to launch the Field Guide to the Butterflies of Singapore via a short video clip. The launch ended when I presented the first copy of the book to Ms Ho Ching.

Everyone then proceeded to the Function Room and garden deck at Level 2 of the building for morning snacks. Book desks were also set up earlier to present complimentary copies of the book to guests. For those who wished to purchase extra copies of the book, limited copies were also made available.

Everyone enjoyed the food, and mingled around, amongst old friends and making new ones. I obliged everyone who asked me to autograph their copy of the book. Ms Ho Ching also sportingly autographed the books of those who were lucky enough to approach her.

Very soon, it was time for Ms Ho Ching to leave, and we escorted her to her car. Many of the guests continued to enjoy the sunny morning, catching up with each other.

ButterflyCircle members helping at the Book Desk



Guests getting their additional copies of the book


Autographing the book for BC members and guests

All in all, it was a successful launch, and the maiden flight of the Field Guide to the Butterflies of Singapore. 1,000 copies of the book will be donated to schools, libraries and other public institutions. (Thank you, Ms Ho Ching!) Some copies are expected to be kept as mementoes for special visitors and guests to Singapore.

The Publishing team from Ink On Paper Communications Pte Ltd

Limited copies of the book are available for sale at the following outlets :

• Nature's Niche
• Oh' Farms
• Singapore Botanic Gardens Bookshop
• Library Shop, Library of Botany & Horticulture, SBG

One for the album - a group of ButterflyCircle members

I also wish to thank everyone who has contributed and helped in the production of this book, without whose help, the Field Guide to the Butterflies of Singapore would not have become a reality.

Text by Khew SK : Photos by Loke PF and Bobby Mun

Life History of the Common Banded Awl

Life History of the Common Banded Awl (Hasora chromus chromus)



Butterfly Biodata:
Genus: Hasora Moore, 1881
Species: chromus Cramer, 1780
Subspecies: chromus Cramer, 1780
Wingspan of Adult Butterfly: 45mm
Caterpillar Host Plants: Pongamia pinnata (Leguminosae).


A male Common Banded Awl perching on a leaf.


A male Common Banded Awl perching on the underside of a branch.

Physical Description of Adult Butterfly:

Adults are rather large in size with pointed forewing apex and markedly lobate hindwings. Above, the wings are dark brown. In the male, the wings are unmarked while the female has two pale yellowish crescentic spots in spaces 2 and 3 on the forewing. The male has a discal stigma on the forewing. Below, both sexes are pale purplish brown. On the hindwing, there is a prominent and narrow white to bluish white discal band partitioning the wing into an inner and an outer half. The inner edge of the band is more sharply defined compared to the outer edge. In contrast, the discal band on the forewing is faint and extends only over the upper portion of the wing. The female has two apical spots in spaces 6 and 7 of the forewing with the one in space 7 absent from some specimens.

Close-up views of the light brown and purplish scales of a female Common Banded Awl.


A male Common Banded Awl perching on the underside of a leaf.


A male Common Banded Awl perching on the underside of a grass blade.

Field Observations of Butterfly Behaviour:

This species is uncommon in Singapore. There is a better chance of finding larval stages of this species on its host plant, Pongamia pinnata, than seeing the adults up close. The fast flying adults have been observed to visit flowers for nectar. When resting, the adults typically do so on the underside of a leaf or other plant parts.

A female Common Banded Awl visiting flowers.


A female Common Banded Awl perching on a stem.

Early Stages:

The local host plant, Pongamia pinnata, is a tree which can grow up to 6-15m tall. Its compound leaf has 5-7 leaflets in a pinna. Each leaflet is thin leathery, shiny reddish brown when young, and turn darker green when matured. It is listed as "Endangered" in the latest Singapore Red Data book, and at present can be found locally in small numbers in parks and along side walks in certain built-up areas. The caterpillars of the Common Banded Awl feed on young to middle-aged leaves of this plant.

Host plant : Pongamia pinnata. Relatively young leaves are shown.

The eggs are laid singly or in small groups of 2-3 on young shoots of the host plants. Each egg is initially white and shaped like a bun with a flattened base (diameter: 0.4-0.5mm). Prominent ridges running from the pole to the base. The micropylar sits atop at the pole. The entire egg turns pinky red as it develops, and then decolorizes again when the caterpillar is ready to emerge.

Two views of a `fresh' egg of the Common Banded Awl.


Two views of a maturing egg of the Common Banded Awl.


Two views of a mature egg of the Common Banded Awl with the larval head vaguely visible.


Two views of empty egg shells of the Common Banded Awl.

It takes 2-3 days for the collected egg to hatch. The young caterpillar eats just enough of the shell to emerge, and has a length of about 2mm. It has the typical cylindrical shape for skipper caterpillars, and the yellowish brown body has a number of short setae. The large head is black, slightly bi-lobed and lightly hairy. The dorsum of the prothorax carries a dark-colored patch/shield.

Two views of a 1st instar caterpillar, early in this stage, length: 1.8mm.


Two views of a 1st instar caterpillar, late in this stage, length: 2.6mm.

The young caterpillar constructs its first leaf shelter by bringing two halves of a small young leaf together with silk threads. It rests within the flap and ventures out to eat on nearby leaf surface. In later instars, the Common Banded Awl caterpillars also construct leaf shelters in a similar fashion but do so with larger and older leaves. The larval growth of the Common Banded Awl is rapid in pace for all five of its instars, with all but the final instar lasting only 1-1.5 days.

1st instar caterpillar, late in this stage, dormant before its moult, length: 3.2mm.

After reaching a length of about 3.2mm in the 1st instar, the caterpillar moults to the next instar after a short dormant period. The 2nd instar caterpillar has four faint whitish narrow dorsal bands and one lateral band which are barely visible against the pale yellowish body ground color. These bands become more prominent as the body ground colour turn pale brownish towards the end of this instar. The body and the head capsule are also covered in short fine setae.

Two views of a 2nd instar caterpillar, early in this stage, length: 3.3mm.


2nd instar caterpillar, late in this stage, length: 5mm.


2nd instar caterpillar, late L2, dormant before its moult, length:5.5mm.

The 2nd instar caterpillar reaches a length of about 5.5mm, and after 2 days in this stage, it moults again. The 3rd instar caterpillar resembles the 2nd instar caterpillar but with more prominent dorsal and lateral whitish bands due to the much darker brown in its ground colour. Overall the body takes on a freckled appearance with numerous tiny lighter patches dotting the dark brown surface. A narrow anal plate dark brown to black in color, can now be seen on the posterior end. This instar lasts another 1-1.5 days with the length reaching 9mm.

Two views of a 3rd instar caterpillar, early in this stage, length: 6.5mm.


Two views of a 3rd instar caterpillar, prior to its moult, length: 9mm.

The 4th instar caterpillar resembles the 3rd instar caterpillar closely, but with its body ground colour in darker brown. The whitish setae on the head capsule are proportionately much longer than in earlier instars. This stage takes about 1-1.5 days to complete with the body length reaching 19mm.

Two views of a 4th instar caterpillar, early in this stage, length: 12.3mm.


Two views of a 4th instar caterpillar, late in this stage, length: 19mm.

The final and 5th instar caterpillar has similar body markings as the 4th instar caterpillar, though the ground colour has changed to a dark shade of purplish brown or even pinky brown above the lateral band. Several large dorso-lateral spots are also present here. Below the narrow lateral band, the body is in a contrasting yellowish brown. One unmistaken change is in the head capsule which has now become pale orangy brown. Moderately long white setae are found over the whole body and the head capsule. This stage takes about 3 days to complete with body length reaching up to 36mm.

A newly moulted 5th instar caterpillar eating its `old' larval skin.


Two views of a 5th instar caterpillar, early in this stage, length: 19mm.


Two views of a 5th instar caterpillar, length: 26mm.

Towards the end of 5th instar, the body of the caterpillar gradually shrinks in length and decolorises. Some caterpillars would turn completely pale greenish whilst others retains several lateral dark spots. The fully grown caterpillar ceases feeding and stations itself in its leaf shelter and enters the preparatory pupa phase. During the early part of this stage, the caterpillar spins large quantity of silk threads to seal the pupation shelter, and in particular, constructs a silk girdle at its 2nd/3rd abdominal segment and a short transverse silk band near its posterior end. Both the dorsal point of the girdle and the transverse band are also secured by vertical/oblique threads to the inner wall of the shelter.

Two views of a 5th instar caterpillar, late in this stage, length:36mm.


Two views of a pre-pupa of the Common Banded Awl secured via silk girdle and anchor in its shelter.

After about 0.5-1 day of the pre-pupal phase, pupation takes place within the pupation shelter. The pupa secures itself with its cremaster attached to the transverse band. The pupa has a short thorax, a rather long abdomen and a short and pointed rostrum. Fresh after the pupation event, the body is greenish, but after 0.5 to 1 day, the body surface becomes mostly covered in a white substance. Length of pupae: 23-24mm.

Two views of a pupa of the Common Banded Awl with a coating of whitish powdery substance.

After 5-5.5 days, 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 a mature pupa of the Common Banded Awl


A newly eclosed male Common Banded Awl.

References:

• The Butterflies of The Malay Peninsula, A.S. Corbet and H.M. Pendlebury, 4th Edition, The Malayan Nature Society.
• Butterflies of Thailand, Pisuth Ek-Amnuay, 1st Edition, 2006
• The Butterflies of Hong Kong, M. Bascombe, G. Johnston, F. Bascombe, Princeton University Pres 1999

Text by Horace Tan, Photos by Khew S K and Horace Tan

Metamorphosis - the Birth of a New (Butterfly) Book

Metamorphosis - The Birth of a New Butterfly (Book)
10/10/10 : Launch of A Field Guide to the Butterflies of Singapore

The idea of coming out with a book on Singapore's butterflies stretched as far back as 2003. Then, the only book dedicated to Singapore's Flying Jewels was the Science Centre/BP Book that was authored by Steven Neo and published in 1996.

Back then, I was hoping that I could get one of the prominent publishing companies to financially back the book. That would leave me to concentrate on the task of writing and collecting photos for the book. Not surprisingly, the response that I got was rather lukewarm, to say the least, as no one thought that a book about Singapore's butterflies would have any commercial value nor interest.

So the idea for the book went on the backburner.

I made another attempt after that, even consulting the ever-energetic Ria Tan, a long-time friend who runs WildSingapore and the author of the Chek Jawa Guidebook, for advice. I also consulted Morten Strange of Nature's Niche, who authored and published a number of excellent bird books. But again, the initial effort fizzled out due to my own lack of time to focus on the book.

About three years ago, in 2007, after a few months of setting up this blog and penning many articles, I managed to gain the interest, and the offer of a personal sponsorship from a generous individual in Singapore.

This important catalyst sparked off renewed effort on the book again, and it has been three long years. I had to balance my work which required a lot of my energy and time to deal issues attributed to another untimely global recession, with working on the book. That left me with little spare time to conceptualise the book, its design, do literature research, write and collect the photos for as many species as possible.

Hence, many of my weekends were spent out in the field, taking photos of species that were still unavailable, and also writing and researching for the book.

I am very thankful that many ButterflyCircle members came forward readily to offer their excellent photographs to add more quality and completeness to the book. Particularly for the photos of species that I did not have a good shot of.

Special mention has to be made of BC members like Sunny Chir, who probably contributed the most photographs amongst the BC members, and also friends like Horace Tan, Leslie Day, Steven Neo, Marcus Ng, Ellen Tan, Teo Kiam Pheng and my wife, Shirley, who helped and meticulously vetted the drafts for the write ups for grammatical correctness and technical accuracy. (And I must say that there were plenty of mistakes in the early drafts!).

The full list of ButterflyCircle members is featured in the acknowledgement pages of the book. And I must sincerely thank each and every individual who contributed their work, that your photos have added so much quality and colour to the book. You have every reason to be proud of what you and ButterflyCircle have achieved over the years.

So the work continued over the period of three years, as BC members also raised their quality of butterfly photography, and the pages began to fill up with photos that will eventually grace the final book.

Researching and deciding what to put in the book took some effort, as the intention was to feature the book to as wide an audience as possible without too much scientific jargon. But at the same time, make the book as accurate as possible to the expert community.

A shot of the photoplate machine, which generates the master plate used in the printing process

There were many changes and amendments, and this is where I have to thank the publisher, Ink On Paper Communications Pte Ltd, a small Singaporean boutique set-up, for their help and patience with this first-time author! The design and layout was conceptualised by the young and very capable layout artist, Cressindie Tan, and ably advised by Kalyn Choi and Alicia Tan (the lady boss!). They even went on an outing with BC members to get the feel of what we do out in the field, shooting butts!

A peek at a stack of the finished 16-page sheet after which the pages are machine-cut and bound

It was almost a year ago that I'd set the goal of launching the book on 10 Oct 2010, that is, 10/10/10, an interesting date. It is also apt that this book is launched in the United Nations' International Year of Biodiversity 2010, as a contribution to biodiversity education and conservation, and in particular, to Singapore.

A view of the CMYB 4-colour printer used in the production of the book

It has been a tiring, but rewarding experience, putting this book together. The past few weeks have been a flurry of vetting, amending, inserting new photos, more vetting and proof-reading and changes! The final finishing touches to the digital files, and then more colour-proofing at the printers. It was also amazing to see the printing technology that we have today, as the lithographic and book-binding processes are now so technologically advanced and fast!

Colour-proofing process of the printed sheets and tweaking the colours digitally

My publisher even went the extra mile to ensure that a dummy copy of a fully-bound book sample was made to check the binding strength of the spine and to ensure that the pages do not fall out easily through frequent use of the book.

A "blind" copy of the bound book to check the robustness of the binding and spine sewing. The Trees of Our Garden City book, which is the same size and thickness, is shown for comparison

All that remains now, is to wait for the "butterfly" to eclose. The pupa shell is now transparent, and we can see the colours of the "wings" of this new butterfly, all set for its maiden flight. For the privileged few who have been invited to the launch this coming Sunday, let's celebrate the eclosion process together!

The Field Guide will be 370-page soft-cover A5 sized book featuring a total of 904 photographs.



Text by Khew SK : Photos (all of which will be featured in the forthcoming book) by James Chia, Sunny Chir, Chng CK, Khew SK, Nelson Ong, Jonathan Soong, Horace Tan & Zhuang Yaoyang