Gan’s Garden Butterfly List – 18 species

Last update : 30 dec 2011

Butterflies sighted at Gan’s garden on 5th and 6th floor :

1. Papilio demoleus malayanus – Lime Butterfly^# : Sep 2008
2. Zizina otis lampa - Lesser Grass Blue^# : Nov 2008
3. Suastus gremius gremius – Palm Bob : Mar 2009
4. Delias hyparete metarete - Painted Jezebel^# : Mar 2009
5. Bibasis harisa consobrina - Orange Awlet : Mar 2009
6. Parantica agleoides agleoides - Dark Glassy Tiger : May 2009
7. Matapa aria - Common Redeye : May 2009
8. Tajuria cippusmaxentius – Peacock Royal^# : Aug 2009
9. Catopsilia pomona pomona – Lemon Emigrant : 31 Oct 2009
10. Ideopsis vulgaris macrina – Blue Glassy Tiger : 2 Nov 2009
11. Danaus chrysippus chrysippus - Plain Tiger : 6 Jan 2010
12. Chilades pandava pandava – Cycad Blue : 9 Jan 2010
13. Pelopidas mathias mathias - Small Branded Swift : 3 Feb 2010
14. Elymnias hypermnestra agina – Common Palmfly : 22 Feb 2010
15. Plastingia naga – Chequered Lancer : 9 Mar 2010
16. Junonia hedonia ida - Chocolate pansy : 8 Apr 2010
17. Papilio polytes romulus - Common Mormon# : Oct 2011 (found CM caterpillars on Curry Leaf plant)
    
18. Euploea phaenareta castelnaui - King Crow : 30 Dec 2011 (attracted by Dill plant)
    

^# = Breeding in the garden

Butterfly stamps

SingPost launched the Butterflies stamp series on Apr 21 2010. This series of stamps consists of four exquisite local butterfly – The Common Birdwing, The Blue Glassy Tiger, The Common Posy and The Tailed Jay.

The stamp collection is the result of collaboration between SingPost and and Nature Society (Singapore) Butterfly Interest Group.  Simon and I started working with SingPost on this series in late 2008 and after more than a year, the butterfly stamp series is finally available to the public.  Apart from the stamps, SingPost also released Pre-cancelled First Day Cover, Presentation Pack and Self-Adhesive Stamp Booklet.  In addition, SingPost also released a special promotional bundle which consists of Butterflies First-Day Cover,  presentation Pack and NSS’s Butterfly Field Guide. 

Priced at S$15.00, it is on sale at four selected Post Offices namely Singapore Post Centre, Tanglin, Toa Payoh Central and Changi Airport.

Yesterday, Clement from SingPost personally delivered complimentary copy of the stamps to us. We had a pleasant surprise when he handed us a framed copy of the First Day Cover with Pre-cancelled stamps.

 

The presentation was beautiful ! .  Thank you SingPost !

Comparing Chestnut and Chocolate Tiger

The Chestnut Tiger and Chocolate Tiger are common at Fraser’s Hill. The upperside of these 2 species are quite distinct and cannot be mistake for one another.

Their underside however, looks very similar in passing and can be mistaken in the field.  The picture below highlights the key differences of the underside of these 2 species.

April Fraser’s Hill trip

A few of us went to Fraser’s Hill in April. The weather at Fraser’s Hill was still cold and misty in the morning.

In the evening, the sunset was mesmerizing ..

We have a fantastic view of the sunset right from the living room.  Below, Amy is taking photo of the sunset just before dinner was served.

We saw lots of butterflies and everyone had a great time taking photo of species which are not commonly seen at lower elevation.

Amy and Laurence shooting the Red Spot Jezebel (Delias descombesi eranthos).  See Laurence’s photo of this beauty here.

We chanced upon another rare species, the Common Jester (Symbrenthia lilaea luciana) near our bungalow.

At one of our favorite haunts, we had a very cooperative Orange Albatross (Appias nero figulina) posing for photograph. 

This trip I saw 4 lifers :
- Charaxes durnfordi dumfordi – This is a 5-STAR !
- Euthalia malaccana malaccana
- Symbrenthia lilaea luciana
- Scobura woolletti

I also saw the very rare  Graphium empedovava !

Other species I saw include :

Yasoda pita dohertyi (Malayan Branded Yamfly)
Loxura cassiopeia cassiopeia (The Larger Yamfly)
Symbrenthia lilaea luciana (The Common Jester) 
Kallima limborgii amplirufa (The Indian Leaf butterfly) 
Idea hypermnestra linteata ( The Tree Nymph )

Scobura woolletti (Brown Forest Bob)- A small skipper that resembles the Chestnut Bob
Pareronia valeria lutescens (The Wanderer)
Papilio helenus helenus (The Red Helen) - a very common Papilio at this part of Malaysia.

Papilio nephelus sunatus (The Black and White Helen) – They are very common as well. I saw at least 8 of them in 2 hours.

You can see more photo of butterflies from Fraser’s Hill here.

My 1st Fraser’s Hill trip in 2010

It seems like ages since I last step foot on Fraser’s Hill but my last trip there was actually in November, just 4 months ago. Gosh, I missed the place.

This time round I brought along the Sony DSC-TX7 to take panoramic shots of my favorite place. The TX7 is a joy to use and takes spectacular photos with its HDR, Sweep Panorama and 25mm wide angle lens.

Misty Morning

Full view of our bungalow, straight from the camera.

Inside our bungalow.

The Smoke House at Fraser’s Hill.
I think this is my #13 trip to Fraser’s Hill and I am still seeing lifer every time I come here.

This trip I have a butterfly lifer - The Indian Yellow Nawab ( Polyura jalysus ), which I spotted along the road while we were looking at Cicada.
The Blue Admiral ( Kaniska canace ) is a resident at Fraser’s Hill and likes to perch on a leaf.

The Yellow Banded Awl ( Hasora schoenherr ), one of the most colorful Awls, is uncommon in Singapore but not uncommon at Fraser’s Hill.

Feb-Apr at Fraser’s Hill has the perfect weather for moths – cool, misty with light drizzle in the late evening. Our moth screen was covered with thousands of moths every night !

All in all, we have 31 different species of Hawk moths, 16 Golden Emperor moths (Loepa sikkima and megacore ) and 8 Luna moths (Actias maenas and selene ) ! On top of that we added 3 new species of Hawkmoths to our already long list : Hippotion velox, Clanis orhanti and Meganoton nyctiphanes.

Mireille with an Actias maenas

And after so many trips here, I finally see the female Actias maenas diana ! Below is a photo with the male at the top and female at the bottom.

Another Luna moth – Actias selene perching under the roof.

Melanothrix nymphaliaria - I only spotted this moth when I made my last round around the bungalow just before we depart. When I first spotted it I thought it was a butterfly. It reminds me of the Yellow Barred ( Xanthotaenia busiris ).

Ambulyx canescens, a rather common hawkmoth at Fraser’s Hill.

Cypa decolor decolor – An uncommon and tiny hawkmoth.

Owen spotted this interesting Cicada. It looks somewhat like the Trengganau sibylla, with red eyes and green color forewings. However it has a picture of a skull on its thorex. Maybe it should be named the Death-head Cicida :-D.
We have no idea what is the id of this cicada. Post a note here if you know the name or know someone who can help to id this cicida.

Along the ‘new’ road, we saw this large (4” long) turquoise color beetle sunning itself on the leaf of the Tree Fern.

We also saw this interesting looking Praying Mantis.

Before I know it, it is time to pack and head back home. Times flies here !

Before we head off, Mr Lim took a group photo for us,

and Mrs Lim sending us off, knowing that she will be welcoming us back next moth !

Chequered Lancer at my garden

On 9th of March, a Plastingia naga aka Chequered Lancer was spotted inside my trellis.

This is butterfly #15 at my garden.

Butterflies inside trellis

I just added a trellis to my garden to keep Tillandsia and Hoya and I noticed butterflies are attracted to the trellis.

Last week I found a Lemon Emigrant and a Painted Jezebel inside the trellis and a few days ago I saw a Common Palmfly inside.

If this continues I am going to have a high rise butterfly enclosure soon

I wonder what attracted them ?  Were they seeking shelter from the heat or were they after the butterfly plants I have in there ?