Fascinating Fraser's Hill

Fascinating Fraser's Hill
An old Friend Revisited



About Fraser's Hill

Rising 1,500 meters above sea-level on the Titiwangsa mountain range of Peninsular Malaysia is Fraser's Hill. Named after a solitary Scottish pioneer, Louis James Fraser, who set up a tin-ore trading post in the 1890s, it actually consists of seven hills. Fraser's Hill is truly an idyllic place for one to rest, relax and to escape from not only the heat and humidity but also the hustle and bustle of city life. It is one of the prettiest of the Malaysian Hill resorts. Sometimes referred to as the "Little England", the architecture of many of the older buildings on Fraser's Hill reflect colonial style designs.

The iconic Clock Tower at the Town Centre is a familiar sight as one passes the gateway into Fraser's Hill

After a long time since my last trip to Fraser's Hill some time in the later part of the 20th century, I decided to make a trip up to revisit some of my old butterfly hunting grounds on this hill resort. As fortune would have it, my sister in law managed to get her company accommodation at the Frasers Pine Resort, and off we went on a road trip starting from Singapore. Setting off at a very sane hour of 9:00am, we set off from home in two cars. Being a weekday, the traffic at Tuas Checkpoint and also on the Malaysian side was light and we were off on the start of the 400km road trip via the N-S highway in no time at all.

Driving on the N-S expressway is a breeze. But watch the speed limits and the local Malaysian fuzz on the lookout for speedsters!

Driving on the highway was fine, though one has to keep alert for the traffic police road blocks for speeding. The official speed limit is 110kph, and we kept to it (most of the time) although ever so often we had cars zooming past us as though the Devil himself was on their tails.

Thank goodness for technology. Our voice-guided GPS showed us the way to our destination (well, it works most of the time!)

With the use of our trusty Garmin GPS, we were reasonably confident of not getting lost - even though at times, the device can get abit cranky and made us go round in loops. After a short pitstop in Kuala Lumpur for lunch, we made our way out of the city and headed to Rawang and Kuala Kubu Bahru, which is the village gateway leading up to Fraser's Hill. From here on, the road is very windy, and speeds below 50kph are the norm, unless one wants to end up at the bottom of a ravine.

We made it past the Gap (which is currently under renovations) and waited at the entry gateway to the road up to Fraser's Hill. The narrow winding road goes on for about 8km to the top of the hill station, and is scheduled one-way up/down traffic. Contrary to what I had been told, this up-down schedule is still in force, as the other new road which allowed for a single way up and down previously, was damaged by a severe landslide in 2007. A bridge was destroyed, and the re-construction is still in progress. As we were slightly early before the 5pm upward schedule, we waited patiently by the roadside. I was surprised to be greeted by a female Malayan Birdwing, coming down in the late hours to feed on the flowers of the Mussaenda bushes. A Chocolate Tiger also fluttered nearby, but neither of the butterflies were cooperative subjects for good shots.

Waiting for the gate to open for the upward traffic schedule. The sign shows the schedules for up and down traffic, so plan your timing carefully if you do not want to wait.

Accommodation for us was the Frasers Pine Resort, a series of serviced apartments built into the sloping topography of the hillside. With three bedrooms, attached bathrooms, a living room and kitchen, it was sheer 5-star luxury compared to the spartan accommodation that we had at Endau Rompin. (Not to mention hot water for bathing!)

A view to the lower apartments at the Frasers Pine Resort. We stayed at a similar apartment at the middle level of this development.

Fraser's Hill is well known to the bird-watching community for its rich bird life, and indeed, the International Bird Race 2009 had just been held a couple of weeks before our trip here.

Saturday morning had us out in the early sunshine, and a cool breeze blowing. The car's thermometer read 20degC. The Red Spot Jezebel (Delias descombesi eranthos) were out in numbers and several were feeding on the flowers of the Lantana bushes. Somehow, the red Lantana flowers appeared a deeper red than their lowland varieties.

We visited a flower garden, the children's playground and several other town centre spots which had pretty flower beds all abloom. This was where I managed to spot several Purple Sapphires (Heliophorus epicles tweediei) one of the signature Lycaenids of montane environments like Fraser's Hill. We visited the steep Bishop's Trail, but decided to leave the rather tough trail for another future visit. So we left the trail, but not before the friendly local leeches managed to take a sip of Singaporean blood.

The Mapwings came out to play. There are two different species of the Cyrestis shown here.

In the later part of the morning, we headed for the Jeriau Waterfalls, where we encountered many puddling species. The magnificent Rajah Brooke's Birdwings were zooming and gliding past us, but none cooperated to stop for a good shot. There were many puddling Mapwings (Cyrestis spp), a couple of Great Mormons, Chocolate Albatrosses and so on. The catch of the day and the entire trip, must have been the Constable (Dichorragia nesimachus deiokes) of which there were two speedy individuals that were cooperative enough for some good shots.

The catch of this trip - the Constable (Dichorragia nesimachus deiokes)

We called it a day as we had to head back to the Frasers Pine Resort for our catered lunch. After a lazy afternoon, we headed to Ye Olde Smokehouse for a spot of English tea. A trip up Fraser's Hill would not be completed without sampling the excellent English scones with strawberry preserve and thick cream, complete with Earl Grey tea.

At Ye Olde Smokehouse for afternoon tea. Scones and apple pies with strawberry preserve and cream. A spot 'o Earl Grey tea, anyone?

On Day 2, we headed out to the flowering spots in the town centre and again encountered several cooperative male Purple Sapphires, a few of which were sunbathing with their wings opened flat. After that, it was down to the Jeriau Waterfalls again for another round of the puddlers. This time, the Mapwings and even a Spotted Sawtooth (Prioneris thestylis malaccana) greeted us. I had some exercise chasing a rather uncooperative Vagrant (Vagrans egista macromalayana) without a single good shot of it!

In the later part of the afternoon, we also encountered the more common species like the Fluffy Tit, Striped and Blue Jays, more Mapwings, a Banded Swallowtail, and a few other unidentifiable flying objects flying at turbo charged speeds. The most common Pierid must be the Chocolate Albatross, which were out in numbers during this time of the year. I spotted a Four-Bar Swordtail and a rather large Pallid Faun, neither of which stopped for a shot.

Dinner over the 3 nights were the mandatory steamboat (recommended for a cold night), spaghetti and porridge. Of course, no visit to Malaysia would be without tasting the King of Fruits - the durian. My apologies to my western readers who would probably barf at the sight of this pungent fruit - but there you go... we Malaysians and Singaporeans adore this fruit.

King of Fruits feast

All too soon, it was Monday morning and after a quick cup of coffee, we set out to get past the downward schedule of 8am. The trip down was uneventful, and we tried a different route to get to the highway and home to Singapore. We made the 400km trip back, with a short pit stop for refueling and lunch in about 6.5 hours, occasionally pushing the speed limits but lucky enough not to encounter any of the local traffic cops. But then again, we were still passed by some vehicles probably with the same Devil on their tails.

Fraser's Hill is also famous for its moth diversity. Here are two common ones

We used the new Checkpoint from Johor Bahru to Woodlands, figuring out that since it was around 3:30pm on a Monday, there would not be the attendant traffic pile up at the Causeway. We were quite right and breezed through without much delays, though on the Singapore side, the H1N1 screenings continued.

Adios! Till We Meet Again! - A typical scene at Fraser's Hill - with the lush Tree Ferns along the mountain side

We reached home before 4pm, happy and satisfied that our old friend, Fraser's Hill, still has much to offer in terms of butterfly biodiversity as before.

Text and Photos by Khew SK

Life History of the Colonel

Life History of the Colonel (Pandita sinope sinope)

Butterfly Biodata:
Genus: Pandita Moore, 1858
Species: sinope Moore, 1858
Subspecies: sinope Moore, 1858
Wingspan of Adult Butterfly: 60mm
Caterpillar Host Plants: Uncaria spp. (Rubiaceae)

Physical Description of Adult Butterfly:
The adult is structurally close to the Athyma spp., with robust bodies and broad wings, but with the key difference of having the forewing cell slenderly closed instead of being open. Cells on both forewing and hindwing are short, roughly about one-third of the total length from wing base to wing margin. The wings are orange in base color. Above, the markings have dark brown shading in the basal halves of both wings. Each wing has a blackish brown post-discal band and three dark lines in the marginal areas. These post-discal and sub-marginal ands are broader and darker in the female. Beneath, the markings on the wings are almost identical to those above, with lesser brown shading in the basal area.



A Colonel feasting on the Singapore Rhododendron in a wasteland.


A Colonel sunbathing on a perch in the nature reserve.


Another sunbathing Colonel in the nature reserve.

Field Observations of Butterfly Behaviour:
This species is uncommon in Singapore. Sightings of the fast flying adults have been confined to several patches of clearings in the Central Catchment Nature Reserves, and several wastelands in the western and north-western parts of Singapore. Individuals have been sighted visiting flowering plants in the wastelands and forest clearings,

Early Stages:
Thus far, only one species of Uncaria growing in the Central Catchment Nature Reserves is known to be utilized by the Colonel locally. Early stages of the Colonel also adopt the same feeding and frass-management routines as described for the Commander and Athyma species in earlier blog articles. Another plant, Nauclea subdita (Rubiaceae), has been recorded as the host plant in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, by an avid ButterflyCircle member, LC Goh.

Local host plant: a Uncaria spp. found in the nature reserves.

The eggs of the Colonel are laid singly at the tip of a leaf on the host plant. The eggs are somewhat globular in shape, with surface marked with hexagonal pits and bearing short spines at pit corners, giving them the appearance of minute sea-urchins. Each egg has a diameter of about 1mm.

Two views of an egg of the Colonel laid at a leaf tip. Diameter: 1mm.

Two views of a mature egg of the Colonel. The head and mandibles are visible in the right view.

The egg takes about 3 days to hatch. The young caterpillar emerges by eating away part of the egg shell. The rest of the egg shell becomes the first meal for the newly hatched, which has a cylindrical pale yellowish green body covered with many small tubercles and short setae. The head capsule is yellowish brown in color.


Two views of a newly hatched caterpillar of the Colonel, length: 2mm.

Similar to the feeding habit of the Athyma spp., the 1st instar caterpillar of the Colonel also feeds from the leaf tip and leaves the midrib intact and protruding. A frass chain is also constructed laboriously by the young caterpillar at the tip of the exposed midrib. Between feeds, the caterpillar rests on either the exposed midrib or the frass chain. In later instars, the caterpillar tends to rest near where the protruding midrib joins the remaining lamina. At this site, it also attempts to camouflage itself with a collection of frass pellets secured with silk threads to the lamina. After reaching about 4.5-5.0mm in 2.5-3 days, the caterpillar moults to the 2nd instar.


A 1st instar caterpillar of the Colonel.
Top: newly hatched (2.5mm in length) resting near its frass chain in its early stage
of construction. Bottom: same caterpllar, now 1-day old, (3.5mm in length) resting on the
same but longer frass chain.

An early 1st instar caterpillar of the Colonel working on lengthening its frass chain.

One 1st instar caterpillar resting on the exposed midrib/frass-chain structure.

The body color of the 2nd instar caterpillar is pale brown with a series of lateral dark patches and a faint dorsal band black in color. Besides tiny tubercles covering most of its body surface, the 2nd instar caterpillar also features short and branched spines dorso-laterally and spiracularly. The head capsule is light brown and dotted with a number of conical tubercles. As it grows in this star, sub-spiracular white patches become visible on abdominal segments, most prominently in segment 6 to 9. This instar lasts about 3 days with the body length reaching 7-7.5mm.


2nd instar caterpillar, newly moulted, length: 4.5mm


2nd instar caterpillar, late in this stage, length: 7mm

The 3rd instar caterpillar has slightly longer dorsolateral spines, with pairs on thoracic segments longer than the rest. Its head capsule is dark brown to black irorated with pale brown tubercles. This instar takes about 3 days to complete with body length reaching about 10-11mm.


3rd instar caterpillar, newly moulted, length: 6mm


3rd instar caterpillar, late in this stage. .Lengths: 9mm (top) and 11mm (bottom).

The 4th instar caterpillar has much longer dorso-lateral spines which are heavily branched. The body is brown to reddish brown in color. Besides conical tubercles, the head capsule also carries some short spines. This instar lasts 3 days with body length reaching about 18mm-19mm.


Two views of a 4th instar caterpillar, newly moulted, length: 10mm.


Two views of 4th instar caterpillar, late in this stage. Lengths: 16mm (top); 17mm (bottom)

The 5th and final instar brings about a drastic change in appearance. Now the branched dorso-lateral spines very well developed on all body segments with those on the meso- and metathorax being the longest. Newly moulted caterpillar has deep reddish brown spines, but the color changes to pinkish red as the caterpillar grows. The body base color is initially a mix of green and brown, but this soon changes to a uniform green color as growth proceeds in this instar.


Two views of a 5th instar caterpillar, newly moulted, length: 18mm.

There is one prominent pinkish red saddle mark on the 5th abdominal segment (as typical in many Athyma spp). The light to dark brown head capsule has much longer and pointed spines. As with other members of the Limenities subgroup, when disturbed, the caterpillar adopts a characteristic posture with the anterior body arched and the head tucked beneath the thorax.

Two views of a 5th instar caterpillar, late in this stage, length: 29mm.

Frontal view of the head capsule of a 5th instar caterpillar.

The 5th instar lasts for 6 days, and the body length reaches up to 30-32mm. On the last day, the color of the body and the spines changes to yellowish brown and then eventually to pale brown. The caterpillar ceases feeding and wanders around. Eventually it comes to a half on a branch/stem or a leaf underside, where the caterpillar spins a silk pad from which it soon hangs vertically to take on the pre-pupatory pose. Within the few hours prior to pupation, the caterpillar gradually relaxes and lengthens to a straight posture. Waves of contraction soon travel from the the rear end to the head until the pupation event kicks in.

Two views of a 5th instar caterpillar, late in this stage, with color changes taking place.


Pre-pupatory larva. Left: early stage with in curl-up posture. Middle: soon to pupate with
straightened posturet. Right: near the end of the pupation event.

Pupation takes place a day later. The pupa suspends itself from the silk pad with no supporting silk girdle. It is almost entirely pale brown in color with segments and parts outlined in a darker shade of brown. The abdominal segments are slender, and the thoracic portion being larger and expanded laterally. Dorsally, there are two prominent processes curved towards each other. When disturbed, the abdominal segments flex laterally, and could stay in that position for a period of time. Length of pupae: 18-19mm.

A time-lapse sequence of the pupation event
of the Colonel caterpillar

Two views of a shining pupa of the Colonel.

After about 5 days of development, the pupal skin turns translucent as the development within the pupal case comes to an end. The spots and streak on the forewing upperside also become discernible. The following day, soon after day break, the adult butterfly emerges from the pupal case.

A newly eclosed Colonel resting on its empty pupal case.

A newly eclosed Colonel, proudly showing us its uppersides.

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

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