Re-Discovery of the White Banded Flat

Re-Discovery of the White Banded Flat

Species #298 on the Singapore Checklist

It was on one of their regular butterfly-shooting outings that ButterflyCircle members Nelson Ong and Yiming decided to take a different route to explore areas that they had not ventured before. The intention was to hopefully find something new and unrecorded.

A White Banded Flat perched on a rocky surface

Their sense of adventure and pioneering spirit was rewarded with the sighting and a few shots of a species that was extant in Singapore in the early authors' checklist, but has not been seen in recent years. What was interesting, was that they didn't just chance upon only one individual of this species, the White Banded Flat (Celaenorrhinus asmara asmara), but stumbled on a small colony of them! The skippers were observed zipping up and down a forested path, and dogfighting with other individuals of the same species, as well as other Hesperiidae species.

The shot that started all the excitement of the re-discovery of the White Banded Flat. This individual was first spotted by Yiming and Nelson

After the sighting was reported, another group of ButterflyCircle members headed for the location and observed the same behaviour in the colony of the species. At certain times of the day, the White Banded Flats were observed stopping and sunbathing on the top surfaces of leaves, almost repeating a fixed routine where they fly rapidly, and then returning to the a favourite perch to sunbathe.

A White Banded Flat checking out the flash of one of the BC members

Occasionally, they even stop on rocks in the same manner, and one even stopped on one of the photographer's camera flash, as if to check out the intruders into their territory! However, this behaviour appeared to be just for sunbathing and resting after their rapid flight. None of them were observed to be feeding on the leaves or perches, as their proboscis were not extended for feeding.

When it has had enough of sunbathing on the top surfaces of leaves, it reverts to the habit of perching on the undersides of leaves with its wings opened flat as shown in this photo

After a period of time, they reverted to the typical behaviour of the subfamily Pyrginae (Flats) whereby they stop on the undersides of leaves with their wings opened flat. Further visits and observations indicated that there was at least half a dozen or more individuals of this species in that location. However, after a period of activity and chasing each other in rapid bursts of active flight, the butterflies abruptly disappeared mysteriously altogether!

This observation is quite consistent with some species of the subfamily Pyrginae, where their active period during the day is very time-sensitive, almost like clockwork, and then beyond their magical "hour" (sometimes longer, sometimes shorter), they will mysteriously disappear suddenly, only to appear at the same time and location the following day, over a period of time.

The White Banded Flat belongs to the genus Celaenorrhinus, which occurs in the tropics of Asia, Africa and America. Some 80 species are known to exist, although only 10 are recorded in Malaysia. In the reference checklist (Ref : Corbet & Pendlebury), one species, C. asmara asmara was recorded in Singapore. However, until this recent re-discovery, the species has not been seen in Singapore over the past two decades or more.

Mr Hairy Legs! The erectile hair tuft on the hind tibia of the male of the White Banded Flat

The males of the species in the genus have erectile hair tuft on the hind tibia which gives the legs a rather hairy and unique appearance. The White Banded Flat has been described as uncommon but widely distributed in the lowlands of Malaysia. On the forewing above, the forewing cell spot is not continued above the radius and there is no white spot in cell 1b. The discal fascia is white and does not extend below vein 2. There are some obscure darker brown markings on the hindwings above.

The host plant is Clerodendrum fragrans. The caterpillar is described as stout with a short neck and a lustrous black head. It is also noteworthy that the scientific name of the species comes from the Malay word asmara which means "romance or love". Whether Butler intended the name of this species to have been derived from the Malay word when he described this species back in 1879 is a subject for further investigation.

With this re-discovery, credited to ButterflyCircle members Nelson and Yiming, the Singapore Butterfly checklist edges closer to the 300 mark as we record this as species #298.

Text by Khew SK : Photos by Sunny Chir, Chng CK, Khew SK, Nelson Ong & Anthony Wong

References :

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

Life History of the Psyche

Life History of the Psyche (Leptosia nina malayana)

Butterfly Biodata:
Genus: Leptosia Hübner, 1818
Species: nina Fabricius, 1793
Subspecies: malayana Fruhstorfer, 1910
Wingspan of Adult Butterfly: 35-45mm
Caterpillar Local Host Plants: Cleome rutidosperma (Capparaceae; common name: Purple Cleome, Fringed Spiderflower; synonym: C. ciliata).






Physical Description of Adult Butterfly:
The adults are small and have rounded white wings. Above, the wings are entirely white except for a black apical border and a black subapical spot on the forewing. Beneath, the wings are white in ground color, and there is a black subapical spot on the forewing as per the upperside. The entire hindwing as well as the costal border and apex of the forewing are marked with several dark striations which are highlighted in pale green shading. These green patches are usually lost in aged or weathered specimens.





Field Observations of Butterfly Behaviour:
As is the case for the entire oriental region, Psyche is relatively common and widespread in Singapore. The small and delicate adults are often seen flying incessantly in wastelands, at the fringe of nature reserves, grassy patches and even in urban and residential areas. Typically they are found in areas where its host plant, the Purplse a common weed, is growing in relative abundance. The slow and gentle flying adults are most active in sunny weather and frequently visit flowers for nectar.





Early Stages:
The only recorded local host plant, Cleome rutidosperma, is a common herbaceous weed with violet-blue to pink flowers. The caterpillars of the Psyche feed on the relatively young to middle-aged leaves and young/ tender stems. Locally, Psyche shares the same host plant with Striped Albatross and Cabbage White.

Host plant: Cleome rutodosperma.

A mating pair of the Psyche.

The eggs of the Psyche are laid singly on the host plant, typically on the underside of a leaf. The egg is spindle-shaped and standing on one end with a height of about 1.2-1.3mm, and 0.3mm in diameter. It has vertical ridges and numerous transverse striations. The vertical ridges end in low projections encircling the micropylar. The color of the egg is initially bluish green but gradually decolorises to pale yellowish green as the egg matures.

Two views of an egg of the Psyche. Left: few hours old; Right: maturing egg.

The egg takes about 2.5-3 days to hatch. The newly hatched has a length of about 1.8mm and has a whitish translucent head capsule. Its cylindrically-shaped body is whitish with yellowish green undertone. and featuring dorsal, dorso-lateral and lateral rows of small tubercles running lengthwise. Each tubercle has a long setae emerging from the middle of it. The end of each setae bears a tiny droplet.

A newly hatched caterpillar resting near its egg shell.

Two views of a 1st instar caterpillar, length: 2.3mm.

The newly hatched eats the empty egg shell for its first meal, and then moves on to eat the leaf lamina. With the intake of the leafy diet, the body takes on a green undertone, and the head capsule turns pale yellowish. The 1st instar growth is fast paced and the body length reaches about 3mm. After about 2 days in the 1st instar, the caterpillar moults to the next instar.


Two views of a late 1st Instar caterpillar hours before its moult, length: 3mm.

The 2nd instar caterpillar is yellowish green with similar setae-bearing tubercles as in the 1st instar. Besides these prominent tubercles, there are numerous tiny tubercles doting the body surface giving the cat a freckled appearance. This instar lasts about 1.5-2 days with the body length reaching up to 4.5mm.


Two view of a 2nd instar caterpillar, length: 4.2mm


Two view of a late 2nd instar caterpillar, dormant prior to the moult.

The 3rd instar caterpillar resembles the 2nd instar caterpillar closely. Upon close examination, it is now possible observe two very short anal protrusions, but these are miniscule when compared to those seen in the Striped Albatross. This instar takes about 1.5-2 days to complete with body length reaching about 7.5mm.


Two views of a 3rd instar caterpillar, length; 5mm.


Two view of a late 3rd instar caterpillar, dormant prior to the moult.

The 4th instar retains all the features found in the 3rd instar but with a stronger green undertone in the body segments and the head capsule. Numerous moderately long and fine setae are also featured laterally. This penultimate instar lasts 1.5-2 days with body length reaching about 10mm.


Two views of a 4th instar caterpillar, length: 9mm.


Two views of a late 4th instar caterpillar, dormant prior to its moult.

The 5th and final instar caterpillar resembles the 4th instar caterpillar initially. The many shallow tubercles dotting the body surface are now darker in contrast to the ground color, giving the body a speckled appearance. The green head capsule also carries a fair number of conical tubercles with short setae emerging from most of them. As the growth progresses, the body takes on a white dusted appearance, particularly so spiracularly. The 5th instar lasts for 2.5-3.0 days, and the body length reaches up to 20-21mm.


Two views of a 5th instar caterpillar, early in this stage, length: 11mm.


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


A frontal view of a 5th instar caterpillar.

On the last day of the 5th instar, the body of the caterpillar shortens and changes to a bright green shade. It ceases feeding and comes to rest on the underside of the stem/stalk of the host plant . Here the caterpillar spins a silk pad and a silk girdle to secure itself and then becomes immobile in a cradled pre-pupatory pose.

A pre-pupatory larva of the Psyche.

Pupation takes place about 0.5 day later. The green pupa secures itself with the same silk girdle as in the pre-pupal stage. It has a very short but pointed cephalic horn, a slight dorsal protrusion, and a large wing case tapering into a keel. There are yellowish streaks occurring in the wing case and laterally. Length of pupae: 13.5-14.5mm.

Two views of a pupa of tje Psyche.

A mature pupa of the Psyche showing the prominent sub-apical spot and dark apical border on the forewing.

After about 4.5-5 days of development, the pupal skin turns translucent as the development within the pupal case comes to an end. The white forewing upperside and its dark markings become discernible as a result. The following day, the adult butterfly emerges from the pupal case.

A newly eclosed Psyche drying its wings on its pupal case.

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 P F Loke, C K Chng, Anthony Wong, Khew SK and Horace Tan

Bon Appetit!

Bon Appetit!
Butterfly Food Menu


A female Plain Tiger feeds on the flower of Lantana camara

Whenever a casual observer thinks of a butterfly feeding, the image of a pretty butterfly fluttering above a colourful flower, with its proboscis extended into the flower, comes to mind. Indeed there are species of butterflies that feeds on many species of flowering plants for their daily sustenance to imbibe energy-giving nectar from the flowers. However, it should be pointed out that butterflies' diet is not all 'sugar and spice and everything nice'. Read on...

In Singapore, we have observed that many butterflies have a number of favourite nectaring plants, some of which attract a larger proportion of butterflies as compared to other flowering plants.

Amongst the all-time favourites are :

Lantana camara (in particular the red-orange variety)

Snakeweed (Stachytarpeta indica)

Ixora spp. (in particular the deep red variety)

Syzygium spp.

Bidens spp.

Leea indica and Leea rubra

Mile-A-Minute (Mikania micrantha)

Common Asystasia (Asystasia gangetica)

And many more...

A new blog series featuring some of these all-time favourites amongst the flowering plants that butterflies prefer will be started in this blog in the coming months.

A Banded Swallowtail on a flowering Stinkhorn fungus

However, it should be noted that not all butterflies feed exclusively on flowers only. In fact, there are some species that spend all their lives feeding on other sources of food besides flowers.

Three FiveBar Swordtails puddling on damp urine-tainted soil

An adult butterfly, unlike the form that it spent its earlier life as a caterpillar, has no chewing parts. Instead of biting and chewing leaves, metamorphosis transforms the butterfly with a significant change in its feeding apparatus. The adult butterfly now has a proboscis. The details of the proboscis has been dealt with in an earlier article on this blog.

A Striped Black Crow feeds on a flower of the Syzygium tree

Muscles in the head of the butterfly enable the sucking action through its proboscis and thereby allowing it to absorb a liquid intake through its straw-like apparatus. Like all living things, an adult butterfly needs to feed regularly to replenish the energy that it uses up for reproduction, defence, communication, neurotransmission and essentially, to 'feed' its active lifestyle of flying around for its daily activities.

A male Plane feeds on nectar from the flower of the Bandicoot Berry (Leea indica)

Nectar is often the main ingredient that satisfies the need for energy and water. Nectar is essentially a source of sugar (usually glucose, sucrose and fructose) needed to power the butterfly's activities during the day.

Not Only Nectar on the Menu

Three Saturns feed greedily on rotting pineapple

Besides nectar from flowering plants, sugars and alcohols for energy can be obtained from rotting fruits. They are also a good source of protein that a butterfly requires for reproductive activities. There are many species of butterflies - those that lurk on the shaded forest are typical of these, that feed on rotting fruits that drop on the forest floor.

A banquet of rotting fruit being enjoyed by two Dark Blue Jungle Glories and two Common Fauns

Typical of the rotting fruit that butterflies feed on are fruits like banana, papaya, watermelon, figs, berries and other such sweet-smelling offerings in the forests. In many cases that we have observed the butterfly that had been feeding on these sugary diet become so intoxicated as to stay still and continue feeding greedily that it becomes vulnerable to a predator.

A Common Posy feeding on sugars secreted by the young shoot of a Leea indica

Other species are also partial to oozing sap from wounded plants or the sugary-sweet young shoots of some plants.

A Yamfly sharing the sugary menu from a young orchid shoot with some ants

In the latter example, they often compete with ants for the sugary bounty of these young shoots, often without any confrontation whatsoever, as both the butterflies and ants share the spoils together.

Sodium is also a special ingredient that helps to ensure that a butterfly's nerves work effectively. The chemical is vital for many physiological functions, including digestion, excretion, reproduction and flight. Hence, any concentration of common salt is very attractive to adult butterflies.

This is the reason for the activity called "puddling" where many species of butterflies, in particular males, congregate at damp spots on the ground, especially where the soil or sand has been tainted with urine, animal fluids and fermenting organic material.

Top : A Malayan Eggfly feeds of a sweaty finger. Bottom : Feeding off a sweat-soaked backpack

Sodium is also the reason why many species are attracted to our sweaty hands and bodies, where the butterflies come back time and again to feed like an irritating mosquito! Even sweat-soaked backpacks, socks and hats are fair game to these butterflies that are hungry for salts.

Two Miletinae feeding off the secretions of mealy bugs and coccids

There are some species, particularly of the Miletinae, that feed on the sugary secretions of Homoptera like Aphids, Coccids and Mealy Bugs. Besides their caterpillars feeding on these insects, the adult butterflies also benefit from feeding on their secretions.

A Blue Spotted Crow and a Magpie Crow feeding on the efflorescence off a brick wall and a plastered wall in their quest for more salts

Certain species of the Danainae exhibit interesting feeding preferences, and they are also occasionally observed feeding off the efflorescence from brick walls and damp timber structures. The salts from such efflorescence should also contain the sodiums that the butterflies look for in their diet.

Two Danainae trying to get more alkaloids from various plants

Again, amongst the Danainae, several species have a habit of using their sharp tarsal claws to scrape channels on the seed pods of the plant Crotalaria spp. and then regurgitate a little fluid from their proboscis to mix with the chemicals and then imbibe the mixture.

A Blue Glassy Tiger feeding on the dried flowers of Heliotropium indicum

The same behaviour is also seen when they feed on the dried plants and flowers of Heliotropium indicum. This action is supposedly to extract the chemical pyrrolizidine alkaloids from these plants to aid in their defence mechanisms and also to produce pheromones.

Some Lycaenidae species also feed on damp surfaces of leaves coated with fungus or other types of organic material from which the butterfly also receives nutrients for their sustenance.

Finally, butterflies being members of the insect world, will also feed on carrion, animal faeces and other less attractive (to us humans!) items as part of their cuisine. Skippers are often observed feeding on bird droppings.

A Paintbrush Swift recycling fluids by excreting onto the bird dropping and mixing the liquids before drinking the cocktail of its own pee. Yuck!

It is also interesting to observe an unique behaviour where the butterfly arches its abdomen onto the meal and "pees" onto it, and then uses its extra long proboscis and feeds on the mixture of its own excretions on the bird dropping. The reason for this action that appears to be recycling the food is not clearly understood.

Waiter! This meal tastes like crap! Wait a minute, it IS crap!!

Other spectacular butterflies, particularly of the Charaxes and Polyura, are known to be partial to animal faeces. Amongst collectors of these sought-after species, the little secret is to bait them with tiger dung! But I have observed a Plain Nawab enjoying a meal out of a lump of faeces, probably from a monkey or a dog, perhaps. But let's hope the last bit of this article does not spoil your appetite! And let's go back to the sweet impression of that pretty butterfly feeding on a colourful flower and leave our winged friends to enjoy the wide variety of cuisine on their food menu, especially those which are not our cup of tea!

Text by Khew SK : Photos by Sunny Chir, Federick Ho, Khew SK, Loke PF, Benedict Tay & Anthony Wong