Butterfly of the Month - November 2012

Butterfly of the Month - November 2012
The Sumatran Sunbeam (Curetis saronis sumatrana)

The month of November 2012 has certainly been an eventful one for global politics.  Two of the world's largest economies - China and the United States of America saw leadership 'adjustments'. In the case of the USA, the results of the elections put President Barack Obama back into the White House for a second four-year term in office. It would appear that many of the Asian economies prefer President Obama for his more open foreign policy.

On the other side of the globe, the world's most populous nation, China, saw the changing of the guard at its 18th Congress when President Hu Jintao relinquished his key posts to pave the way for the General-Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Xi Jinping to take over the post of President in March 2013.

Back at home, the Singapore Parliament has just adjourned after another session of active debate over issues like the death penalty, casino (or gambling) control and a number of other less contentious Bills. The scandal of the NUS law scholar and his girlfriend's exhibitionist escapades on their blog took centrestage on social media for quite a few days this month. It does leave one wondering how the power of social media and the internet, and how the world communicates today, literally at the speed of light, will affect us in the years to come.

Back to nature. The flower of the month of November traditionally belongs to the Chrysanthemum. This flowering plant belongs to the family Asteraceae which are native to Asia and Eastern Europe. The Chrysanthemum can grow between 50-150cm tall, has deep leaves and large flower heads with dozens of petals. The Chrysanthemum is most commonly found in shades of white, pink, red and yellow. Yellow or white chrysanthemum flowers of the species C. morifolium are boiled to make a sweet drink in some parts of Asia. The resulting beverage is known simply as "chrysanthemum tea" (菊花茶, pinyin : júhuā chá).

Our feature butterfly of the month is the Sumatran Sunbeam (Curetis saronis sumatrana). This species belongs to the sub-family Curetinae of the family Lycaenidae. The Curetis spp., collectively referred to by their English name "Sunbeams" are fast-flying butterflies featuring usually bright orange-red or light orange uppersides in most of the species.

Two female Sumatran Sunbeams feeding on juices of the Noni fruit (Morinda citrifolia)

Only two Curetis species are reliably recorded from Singapore in the past few decades : the Malayan Sunbeam and the Sumatran Sunbeam. The latter species, our butterfly of the month, is often found in mangrove habitats where its host plant, Derris trifoliata grows in abundance. They can be seasonally common, where more than a dozen individuals may be spotted in a single outing.

Females are more often seen than males, probably because of their presence in the vicinity of their host plants, whilst males are more likely found at the tree tops. The butterfly is a strong flyer, skittish and has a habit of hiding on the underside of a leaf with its wings folded upright when disturbed. At other times, the species is fond of sunbathing with its wings partially opened, showing off its orange and black uppersides in sunlit spots along open paths in the mangrove habitats.

The male of the Sumatran Sunbeam has more angular wings and orange-red uppersides with narrower borders

The much rarer male of the Sumatran Sunbeam has a bright orange-red upperside with a narrow black border. The wings are more angular when compared to the females. The female has more rounded wings and the upperside is paler orange with broad black-dusted borders on the fore and hindwings. The undersides are silvery-white with lunulate post discal striae. The legs are red-banded.

The slug-like caterpillars feed on the host plant Derris trifoliata, a common creeper often found in mangroves and back-mangroves. This creeper is also a host plant of the Hesperiidae, the Common Awl (Hasora badra badra). The life history of the Sumatran Sunbeam has been documented in full on this blog.

Text by Khew SK : Photos by Sunny Chir, Chng CK, Federick Ho, Khew SK, Loke PF & Horace Tan.

Random Gallery - Bigg's Brownie

Random Butterfly Gallery
Bigg's Brownie (Miletus biggsii biggsii)

The Bigg's Brownie is a relatively common species in Singapore.  It is most often seen fluttering restlessly in well-shaded areas at the fringes of the nature reserves as well as in various urban parks.  The species is associated with mealy bugs, aphids and coccids, on which their caterpillars feed.  The adult butterflies are observed flying around ant-infested young shoots of various plants.  The ants "farm" the mealy bugs for their sugary discharge, and do not seem to attack the intruding butterflies.

The species is light brown on the upperside, with an oblique white band on the forewings, which can vary across different individuals.  The underside is light greyish brown with dark markings outlined in white.  This individual was shot by ButterflyCircle member Koh Cher Hern recently. 

Life History of the Leopard Lacewing

Life History of the Leopard Lacewing (Cethosia cyane)

Butterfly Biodata:
Genus: Cethosia Fabricius, 1807
Species: cyane Drury, 1773
Wingspan of Adult Butterfly: 80mm
Caterpillar Local Host Plants: Passiflora foetida (Passifloraceae), Adenia macrophylla var. singaporeana (Passifloraceae)

A female Leopard Lacewing visiting the flower of Bidens alba.

A female Leopard Lacewing.

A female Leopard Lacewing showing its uppersidevisiting Lantana flowers.

Physical Description of Adult Butterfly:

Above, the male is orange with apical two-thirds of the forewing black with a white and oblique band lying within. The termen of both forewing and hindwing  is indented and lined with a broad and black marginal area containing a lace-like pattern of white markings. The female is mostly similar but with the orange background replaced with a  pale yellowish to whitish coloration, and has its hindwing endowed with more discal and postdiscal black spots.    Underneath, the wings are variegated with orange, red, white, black and blue. In the forewing, the cell area is transversed with bars of black, bluish-white and  red coloration, beyond which a broad, white and oblique band lies just below the subapical area. In the hindwing, the ground colour is orange in the male and pale creamy yellow in the female. The basal area and the costal margin are crossed by short black lines, with the ground colour more reddish in the male. A somewhat broad discal band and a narrow post-discal band, both white, are  bordered with  black spots and striae.  As in the upperside, the terminal margins are black and house lace-like white markings, with additional short white straie pointing from the margin inwards to the tip of the V-shaped markings. 

Another New Discovery makes it #305!

Another New Discovery makes it #305!
The Yellow Flat (Mooreana trichoneura trichoneura)

The year 2012 must be a particularly lucky one for ButterflyCircle member Federick Ho. Of the four new species observed by ButterflyCircle members this year, Federick contributed a hat-trick (i.e. 3 hits) to the Singapore Checklist! Spotting new and unrecorded species of butterflies out in the field is a combination of being out at the right time of the day, a pair of sharp eyes, and a matter of being at the right place at the right time, and Federick is doing exactly that so far !

All the four new additions to the Singapore Checklist this year were considered new discoveries, as all four species were not recorded by the early authors in their respective checklists [Ref 1 & 2]. These species are therefore considered new to the Singapore butterfly fauna and it is quite consistent with some of the discoveries from the past years during this period of the north-easterly winds. One theory is that the NE monsoon winds may have carried some species southwards to Singapore from across the Causeway. Of course, some of these new finds could already have existed in the less-explored forested areas of Singapore, just waiting for someone to spot them.

This morning, a quartet of ButterflyCircle members - Federick Ho, Loke PF, Simon Sng and newbie Huang CJ, were out on their usual weekend butterfly shooting hunt when Federick spotted something that he hadn't seen before in Singapore. He signalled for the rest of the team to hurry to his location, whilst taking shots of his new find.

As it turned out, this attractive Hesperiidae from the sub-family Pyrginae (or commonly referred to as the "Flats") known as the Yellow Flat (Mooreana trichoneura trichoneura) has been seen for the first time in Singapore.  This skipper has not been recorded in Singapore before, and is thus a new discovery. ButterflyCircle records it as species #305 in the Singapore Checklist.

The Yellow Flat is described as a forest-dependent species found in lowland jungles up to 2,500ft. In the males, both the mid- and hind-tibiae feature a hair tuft. Its distribution is relatively wide, stretching from India to Thailand and Malaysia and all the way to the Philippines. The upperside is dark brown with a number of hyaline spots on the forewings.  The hindwing has a series of wedge-shaped discal spots and the tornal area is prominently yellow.  On the underside, the colours are more muted, appearing as a pale yellowish white.

Males and females are similar in appearance. The butterfly has a habit similar to many other members of the sub-family and flies swiftly, often perched on the underside of a leaf with its wings spread open flat. The butterfly is described as "rare on the forested plains in Malaya"

Was the species extant in Singapore all this time? Or is it a newcomer "foreign talent" that had just migrated into the forests of Singapore? This rather pristine individual spotted this morning suggests that the species was not one that had travelled far as it showed relatively little wear and tear on its wings. Whatever its origins, we welcome another new species to our sunny little island. And we hope that Federick's lucky streak will continue!

Text by Khew SK : Photos by Federick Ho, Huang CJ, Loke PF & Simon Sng

References:

1. The Butterflies of The Malay Peninsula, A.S. Corbet and H.M. Pendlebury, 4th Edition, Malayan Nature Society. 1991
2. Butterflies of West Malaysia and Singapore, WA Fleming, 2nd Edition, Longmans, 1983
3. Butterflies of Thailand, Pisuth Ek-Amnuay, 2nd Edition, Amarin Printing & Publishing, 2012.

Random Gallery - Apefly

Random Butterfly Gallery
The Apefly (Spalgis epius epius)

This diminutive butterfly, the Apefly (Spalgis epius epius) belongs to the family Miletinae, collectively referred to as the 'Harvesters'. The caterpillars of the butterfiles of this family are typically carnivourous and feed on coccids, mealy bugs, aphids and even ant larvae. The Apefly is brown and usually unmarked on the upperside, whilst the underside is a greyish buff covered with striations

This Apefly resting on some young leaves, was photographed last weekend by ButterflyCircle member Loke PF at an urban hill park.  The rounded forewings indicate that this is a female of the species, where males typically have sharper wings, particularly a more angled apex on the forewings.

Random Gallery - Cruiser

Random Butterfly Gallery
The Cruiser (Vindula dejone erotella)

Last Sunday was scorching hot out in the field, and ButterflyCircle member EC Goh managed to nail an excellent shot of this puddling male Cruiser (Vindula dejone erotella) within the Central Catchment Area nature reserves.  The Cruiser is a common forest butterfly that makes rare forays into urban areas.  The species is dimorphic, in that the male and female are different in appearance.

This shot was taken under direct sun, and EC did well in maintaining the exposure of the underside of the butterfly without blowing out the details. The added bonus that makes this shot special, are the extended legs of the butterfly, that makes it look like a ballerina on tip-toe.

Butterfly of the Month - October 2012

Butterfly of the Month - October 2012
The Orange Emigrant (Catopsilia scylla cornelia)

"The falling leaves drift by the window... The autumn leaves of red and gold", so goes the lyrics of an oldie, Autumn Leaves.  This version of the Autumn Leaves is in tribute to Andy Williams, who passed away at the age of 85 last month.  This crooner was very much a part of my growing up years as he entertained my family with many of his golden sentimental hits of yesteryear.  As the colours of autumn begin to paint the landscapes of the northern hemisphere, we are now almost at the end of October 2012.   

A heavily-marked female Orange Emigrant feeding on the flowers of Lantana

A couple of months back in my August 2012 article, I mentioned how social media has pervaded many aspects of our lives, and how we interact and relate to the community at large.  Whilst social media platforms like Facebook has its positive side of bringing people and communities together to share information, a grim reminder of the 'dark side' of being too open and vocal with one's thoughts was played out in Singapore recently.

An Assistant Director of the Singapore National Trades Union Congress, probably irritated at the noise from activities at the void deck of her residential block, posted rather inflammatory and racist comments on her Facebook wall.  She was summarily terminated from her employment in all of 24 hours, and the cyberworld was aflame with comments from all and sundry.

A "multi-tasking male Orange Emigrant feeds as it remains mated to the female

A grim reminder indeed, at the seriousness with which racist comments can be dealt with, in multi-racial Singapore, where its delicate racial harmony cannot be taken for granted. And also a timely reminder that in social media platforms like Facebook, one cannot be too careful about saying something and assume that it is only for private viewing. The speed at which socially unacceptable comments can go viral is quite literally, at the speed of light!

Coming back to our world of nature, a definitely more benign and peaceful world, the month of October is associated with the Calendula or Marigold. It belongs to a genus of about 20 perennial or herbaceous plants belonging to the daisy family Asteraceae. The Calendula normally has layered petals that are oval in shape and can grow to be 3-7cm across. The colours range through various shades of yellow and orange.

Also featuring a rich orange-yellow colour, is our butterfly of the month, the Orange Emigrant (Catopsilia scylla cornelia).  A predominantly urban butterfly, the Orange Emigrant is often observed in the company of other Pierids, flying powerfully and restlessly in parks and gardens in Singapore.  It has a strong and erratic flight, and is skittish.

A rare upperside shot of a male Orange Emigrant

The Orange Emigrant has white forewings with black borders and deep orange-yellow hindwings on the upperside.  On the underside, both the fore and hindwings are orange-yellow with dark brownish spots and markings.  The female has a series of irregular sub-marginal spots on the forewing above and a broad black marginal border on the hindwing.  The underside markings of the female are more prominent and often of a deeper orange than the male.

The butterfly is often found fluttering around the bushes of its preferred caterpillar host plant, Senna surattensis (Scrambled Egg Bush or Glaucous Cassia).  This roadside plant is common in Singapore, and is cultivated as a popular landscaping bush with its green foliage and bright yellow flowers.

A puddling male Orange Emigrant

The Orange Emigrant is relatively common although the species cannot be said to be abundant or as common as its relative, the Lemon Emigrant. Unlike the Lemon Emigrant, which has many male and female forms, the Orange Emigrant occurs in only a single consistent physical appearance. It is most active on hot sunny days, and flies at treetops as well as coming down frequently to feed on flowers of its favourite nectaring plants.  Occasionally, males of the species are observed to puddle on damp forest paths.

Text by Khew SK : Photos by Sunny Chir, Khew SK, Nelson Ong, Anthony Wong & Benjamin Yam