Below are a few butterflies I shot today around the Central Catchments area.
1. Sumatran sunbeam (Curetis santana) taking off.
2. Common Snowflat (Tagiades japetus), one of the most common Snowflat in Singapore. 
3. Tawny Palmfly (Elymnias panthera), the rarer of the 2 Palmfly in Singapore. 
4. Flos anniella, uncommon. 
5. Flos apidanus, uncommon.
During a recent GCS gathering, a GCS member told me she had a big green caterpillar eating her Desert Rose (Adenium obesium) plant, a plant belonging to the Dogbane Family ( Apocynaceae )
She sent me a photo and it turned out the caterpillar is another hawk moth caterpillar, the Oleander Hawk-moth - Daphnis nerii.
In Singapore, Oleander Hawk-moth caterpillar is usually found feeding on Madagascar Periwinkle (Catharanthus) , PinWheel Jasmine (Tabernaemontana sp) and Oleander (Nerium oleander), all belonging to the Apocynaceae family.
Last week, a GCS member sent me a SMS asking if I am interested in a 3~4” long green caterpillar. Caterpillar of this size in a garden is most likely that of Hawk moth or Atlas moth. On probing I found out that it has a tail and was feeding on a plant belonging to Araceae family. This confirmed it is a Hawk moth caterpillar and most likely that of Eupanacra elegantulus.
The member was kind enough to bring the caterpillar and a cutting of the host plant to me on that evening and the caterpillar was confirmed to be that of Eupanacra elegantulus.
Simon and I conducted 2 butterfly walks for NSS members this weekend.
Yesterday we had our inaugural walk at the Changi Airport Terminal 3 Butterfly Garden. The butterfly garden is inside the transit area thus is accessible only to transit passengers but NSS managed to secure special visitor pass for 60 NSS members to visit the T3 butterfly garden. 3 cheers to NSS-BIG !
and this morning we had a big turnout for the butterfly walk at Alexandra Hospital Butterfly Trail.
Pictures from the walks will be posted on BIG’s Blog later this week.
| Name | : Pandita sinope sinope Moore 1858 |
| Family | : Nymphalidae |
| Subfamily | : Numphalinae |
| Tribe | : Limentidini |
| Larva host plant | : Rubiaceae |
| Date : 1 May 2007 Ovum:
Larva: 1st instar 3rd instar 5th instar Pre-pupa Pupa : The night before eclosion |
Name : Macroglossum sitiene Walker, 1856
Family : SPHINGIDAE Latreille, 1802
Subfamily : MACROGLOSSINAE Harris, 1839
Tribe : Macroglossini Harris, 1839
Genus : Macroglossum Scopoli, 1777
Larva host plant : Paederia foetida (Rubiaceae)
Reference : Sphingidae of the Eastern Palaearctic
Life History Record :
- Nov 2001 – Paederia foetida (Rubiaceae)
| Date : 9 Nov 2001 Ovum : Larva : Adult : |
Continue from Part 1
Moths
We saw lots of colorful and interesting but only one new species of Hawk moth - Cypa decolor decolor.
Cypa decolor decolor 
Antheraea helferi borneensis (m)-MYFH_20090425_0654-480%5B1%5D.jpg "Antheraea helferi borneensis (m)-MYFH_20090425_0654-480")
A very tattered Lamaireia loepoides
Two Ambulyx moorei 
Eudocima homaena (f) 
Plutodes malaysiana 
Fascellina clausaria
and a few others I have not had time to id ..
Assassin Bug with its prey
Birds
Pink-necked Green Pigeon at Ayer Keroh 
Mountain Imperial Pigeon at High Pines
Cave Racer snake along the new road
The END.
This is my BEST ever butterfly trip and a very very tough one to beat. It is not that my previous trips were no good. In fact all of my butterfly trips to Malaysia and in particular Fraser’s Hill have been fantastic, I usually get at least a lifer and see many rare butterflies. In May 2007 I had the Green Dragon Tail, Dec 2007 - the Kepala Puteh, April 2008 – Purple Sapphire and Branded Yamfly, May 2008 – Banded Peacock and The brimstone, Dec 2008 - The Red Caliph, Feb 2009 – The Great Blue Mime, and 4-Bar Swordtail , Mar 2009 – The Black Forrester and Mar 2009 at Gopeng – Rajah Brooke’s Birdwing puddling en masse, Doleschallia bisaltide continentalis and Catapaecilma major.
That is an impressive list but what separates the April 2009 trip from the rest is the number of rare butterflies we saw and photographed. I made a list of what we saw and we had close to 130 species and more than 20 rare butterflies ! I am sure if Simon were there, the list would easily hit 150.
In fact just before the April trip, Simon and I were browsing The Butterflies of Malay Peninsular (BMP) and chatting about what we would like to see in future butterfly trips. I said I would like to see Garphium empedovana, Meandrusa payeni, Symbrenthia hypatia and Ixas sp. These are some of the rarest butterflies in Malaysia and I will be happy if I see just one in a trip. And guess what ? I saw three out of the four in April and just missed Meandrusa payeni by a few hours.
No amount of words or pictures can convey my excitement and joy of seeing these magnificent butterflies in situ but I hope the pictures below will at least excite those who read my blog and show the varieties of butterflies that Fraser’s Hill and the surrounding areas have to offer.
So here it goes …
Graphium empedovana – Malayan Yellowbottle 
This is my butterfly of the trip ! A 5-STAR !
The picture above was taken 13 years ago with the then ‘top of the line’ Kodak DC40 digital camera which captures picture at 756x 504 pixels (less than 1 Megapixel). No bad for 13 year old technology with less than 1MP sensor ! 
This is a lifer for me. Maris photographed this together with the Yellow Gorgon. I was very lucky because when we went back to look for the Yellow Gorgon, this individual landed right in front of me 5 mins before our scheduled departure ! According to BMP none of the Malaysian species of Symbrenthia can be described as common. Yahoo !!
This is only the 3rd time I have seen this butterfly in the wild. The first time was at Ulu Yam in 1996 but my Kodak DC40 was too slow to photograph it. 12 years later with the signifcantly more advanced D90, I managed to capture a record shot before it took off. On this trip, we had 3 pristine individuals puddling on the ground. Using a 400mm lens, I managed to nail a few shots which captured the the essence of this beautiful butterfly.
Larva of Idea hypermnestra linteata
– Malay Tree Nymph
After seeing this Tree Nymp countless times at Fraser’s Hill, I finally found its larva and host plant. Yipee !!
Find out more about the Malay Tree Nymph here.
Neorina lowii neophyta - Malayan Owl
This butterfly can usually be seen at waterfalls near bamboo clumps. Their favorite pose is wings open flat resting on a leaf. 
so I was surprised to find this individual puddling on the ground. This is a rare shot showing the underside of this butterfly. 
Loxura cassiopeia cassiopeia - Larger Yamfly 
It can be mistaken for the more common L. atymnus. However, it it is larger, with upperside redder and forewing black border continued along the costa. This is another lifer for me !
Hasora schoenherr chuza - Yellow Banded Awl
Delias ninus ninus - Malayan Jezebel 
Papilio helenus helenus - Red Helen
This is the most common Papilio around the foot hill of Fraser’s Hill.
Papilio memnon and P. helenus playing musical chair
Prioneris philonome themana - The Redspot Sawtooth
Prioneris philonome is not uncommon and can usually be found singly at water seepage along with other Pierids. 
Appias pandione lagela - Banded Puffin
This is a montane butterfly which is not found below 1000 feet and is not uncommon at Fraser’s Hill. 
Part 2 will cover moths and other insects
