Sunday, November 15, 2009

Hypolimnas bolina bolina unknown form

Sometime in May this year, Simon and I saw a male Great Eggfly that is unlike any of the bolina forms described in BMP.

It has a submarginal white area on the both side of the hindwings and the the white discal area is missing from both side of the hindwings.

Hypolimnas bolina jacintha-ChestnutDr_20090531_0081-640 Hypolimnas bolina jacintha-ChestnutDr_20090531_0088-640

6 comments:

Bluebottle said...

Oh thats a newly discovered form of the female jacintha eggfly. I still do not know if it would just die out or become an official form.

LoopyMom said...

Hi I'm raising 2 bolina caterpillars for my daughter's school project. I haven't found many sources online on their proper care, so I hope you can advise me: how many days before they pupate? It's now 7 days since we got them, and they have molted at least once. They're about 1 cm x 2mm now. I need to know when I should place some dry twigs in the habitat. Any tips on caring for the pupa would be much appreciated. My blog on the project is at http://loopymom.multiply.com/journal/item/6/PET_CATERPILLARS. Thank you :)

Green Baron said...

Hi Incredible Joe,
Sorry for the late reply as i was away for most of the last 4 weeks.

I can't remember the exact duration . Have to look through my breeding records. You still have a long way to go. The final instar caterpillar should be 6~7cm long.

The caterpillars usually pupate on the cover of the container. However if you place some twigs inside, sometimes they will pupate on the twig. No special care is required for the pupa.

The pupa case will become transparent the night before the eclosion.

LoopyMom said...

Hi Green Baron,
Thanks, & no worries--your info comes just in time. My crawlers have moulted 4 times and have grown to 5.5 cm.

Good thing you mentioned they usually pupate on the cover, because mine's just a piece of netting. My daughter & I will definitely have to hunt about for twigs now. At the butterfly farm I noticed they provided what looked like a bamboo kebab stick at the top of the habitat; maybe I'll do that as well.

Is there a fairly definite length of time for the bolina pupa stage? I read somewhere that in some species pupation can take several months; is that true for this one? It'd be nice to know, so that I can tell my daughter what to expect.

Thanks again :)

Green Baron said...

Hi IJ,
For most of the butterflies in this region, the pupation period is anywhere between 7-20 days. if I remember correctly the pupation period for GEF is around 7 days.

BTW, NSS now has a nature forum and there is a section dedicated to butterflies and moths. There are quite a number of butterfly expert there so feel free to post any question you may have there.

LoopyMom said...

The first of our two butterflies came out of its pupa today (after 8 days). Expecting #2 to emerge tomorrow.

If you have time, see our butterfly here (no need to register/comment):
http://loopymom.multiply.com/journal/item/13/Shock_and_Awe_Day_23_of_our_Pet_Caterpillar_Project_

Anyway, thanks so much again for all your tips, Green Baron.