These Lantana camara bushes, blooming ‘endlessly’ so to speak, are such an attractant to butterflies and other insects! Butterflies just get swooned by the psychedelic colours and the irresistible scent of the flowers, hence providing great opportunities for us nature lovers who desire to photograph them.

That joyful opportunity presented itself last December during a social visit to the St Francis Home for the Elderly in Cheras, Kuala Lumpur.

I had a truly enjoyable time ‘dancing’ around with the butterflies that came visiting the gorgeous Lantana bushes. Delighted to have photographed this attractive Danaus chrysippus, besides its other companion, the Tawny Coster. And, happy too for having put some smiles on the faces of a couple of nuns and elderly inmates who stood-by watching and were amused.

The Plain Tiger or African Monarch/Queen as it’s commonly known, is a medium-sized butterfly with a wing span of about 6-8 cm and a white-spotted black body. The upperside of its tawny-coloured wings are brighter and richer than the underside, with the apical half of the forewings in black and splashed with a white band. The hindwing has a thin black edging that is dotted with a series of white spots and marked with 3 central black spots.

Nonetheless, ground colour and extent of white differs somewhat among this species that has three different forms. Form chrysippus has orange hindwings, form dorippus lacks the white apical spots on the forewing and form alcippoides as featured here, has a large white area on the upperside of hindwings

Though both sexes are similar, the male can be differentiated with the following features:

• it is smaller than the female and more brightly coloured
• it has a scent pouch on the second vein of the hind wing which is visible as a large black patch on the upperside, and as a white spot enclosed in a black border that bulges slightly on the underside
• it possesses 2 brush-like organs which can be protruded from the abdomen’s tip

Ahah, so our featured Plain Tiger here is a female, after all, without the significant scent pouch as described above. Then, calling her the African Queen, the other common name for Danaus chrysippus is more appropriate, don’t you think so?

A very fast flier that had me going around in circles on that bright and hot afternoon and whose appetite for Lantanas seemed insatiable!

Besides Lantanas, the Plain Tiger favours flowers of Jatropha, Zinnias, Marigolds, Sunflowers, Bachelor’s Buttons, to name a few. Unpalatable to birds and predators alike as the alkaloids in its body cause vomiting when ingested. Also, as defence, it exudes a smelly and nauseating liquid that taste horribly when attacked.

Taxonomy:

• Scientific name: Danaus chrysippus (Linnaeus, 1758) {Synonym: Danais chrysippus}
• Common name: Plain Tiger, African Monach, African Queen
• Kingdom: Animalia
• Phylum: Arthropoda
• Class: Insecta
• Order: Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths)
• Superfamily: Papilionoidea
• Family: Nymphalidae (Brush-footed butterflies)
• Subfamily: Danainae
• Tribe: Danaini
• Genus: Danaus
• Species: D. chrysippus

Distribution range: A very common butterfly that is widely distributed, extending from Africa and southern Europe, and eastwards to Asia via Sri Lanka, India, and Myanmar to China and Sulawesi.

Habitat: Open country, scrub jungle, grassland, gardens, coastal dunes, arid and dry areas, etc. and even seen on high mountains up to 9,000 ft.

Hostplant(s): The larvae feed on plants from several families, such as the Apocynaceae, Plumbaginaceae, Convolvulaceae, Moraceae, Euphorbiaceae and many others (check wikipedia’s link below for detailed listing). Favourite hostplants are Calotropis gigantea and Asclepias curassavica.

Other external links:

• Wikipedia on Danaus chrysippus
• Butterflies of Sri Lanka – Plain Tiger
• Butterfly Circle

During a visit last December to St Francis Xavier Home for the Elderly in Cheras, run by The Little Sisters of the Poor, I sighted some lovely butterfly species flying around, intoxicated by the Lantana blooms that were showing off like crazy in the Home’s compound!

Of course, I became as dizzy chasing them around to capture some shots, selectively of those that weren’t yet in our butterfly photo gallery.

One was the African Queen or Plain Tiger, a fast-flying butterfly while the other, Tawny Coster, a sluggish flier that was easily photographed.

Thanks to Autumn Belle’s post of a similar butterfly laying eggs, featured at MyNiceGarden that gave a clue to its identity.

Not a very colourful tropical butterfly but attractive all the same. Just researched and found out that my featured flier here is a female species.

Tawny Coster butterfly is a medium-sized butterfly with a wing span between 53-64 mm wide and tawny-coloured as its common name imply. Nevertheless, the adult males are more striking, being brightly coloured in brick-red or brownish-orange while the females are much paler or duller.

Nature has patterned them well…their Creator, the matchless divine designer has endowed them with distinctive black and white spots, markings and bands that contrast beautifully with their ground-colour and strategically placed to showcase their appeal!

Acraea terpsicore or A. violae, the latter name being more popularly used, has rounded wing apices and fore wings that are elongated tipwards as characteristic of the Heliconiinae, commonly called Heliconians or Longwings, a subfamily of the Brush-footed butterflies (Nymphalidae). It is a slow and weak flier, frequenting flowers such as Lantana, Land Caltrops and Monk’s Pepper. Unpalatable to birds and predators alike as when attacked or handled it exudes a smelly yellow and oily liquid in defence.

Do check out at wikipedia for in-depth information on Tawny Coster and be astounded by its photo gallery that included the life cycle images too.

Taxonomy:

• Scientific name: Acraea terpsicore (Linnaeus, 1758) {synonym: Acraea violae, (Fabricius, 1793)}
• Common name: Tawny Coster
• Kingdom: Animalia
• Phylum: Arthropoda
• Class: Insecta
• Order: Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths)
• Family: Nymphalidae (Brush-footed butterflies)
• Subfamily: Heliconiinae
• Genus: Acraea
• Species: A. terpsicore (A. violae)

Distribution range: Originated from India and Sri Lanka, and distributed to Myanmar, Thailand, Peninsula Malaysia, Singapore and downwards to the Indonesian Islands.

Habitat: Fairly open forest, secondary growth, grassland, gardens, etc. and predominant during the monsoon periods. It’s usually seen at low elevations though has been recorded at heights of up to 2,100 m in India.

Hostplant(s): The larvae feed on plants of the Passifloraceae (eg. Passiflora foetida or commonly known as Stinking Passionfruit), Cucurbitaceae and Loganiaceae.

Other external links:

• Butterflies of Sri Lanka
• Butterfly Circle

Here’s sharing some of our fascinating flowers plus a few butterflies that were shot throughout last month. Hope you enjoy as much as I enjoy shooting and sharing!

The central flower above is the striking Dwarf Euphorbia milii ‘Red’ (Crown of Thorns, Christ Plant, Christ Thorn/Crown) and the other flowering plants, clockwise from top-left are :

• Calliandra emarginata ‘Red’ (Dwarf Powder Puff, Powderpuff Plant)
• Crossandra infundibuliformis (Firecracker Flower, Firecracker Plant)
• Appias libythea (Striped Albatross) resting on Cuphea hyssopifolia (Mexican/False Heather, Hawaiian Heather)
• Unidentified skipper butterfly resting on Torenia fournieri (Bluewings, Wishbone Flower)
• Spathiphyllum spp. (Peace Lily, Spathe Flower, White Anthurium)
• Hibiscus rosa-sinensis (Tropical/Chinese/Hawaiian Hibiscus, China Rose, Shoe Flower)
• Ixora chinensis ‘Singapore Yellow’ (Jungle Flame/Geranium, Flame of the Woods, Needle Flower)
• Catharanthus roseus (Madagascar Periwinkle, Cape Periwinkle, Rose/Rosy Periwinkle, Vinca)
• Ruellia brittoniana ‘Katie’ (Katie Dwarf Ruellia, Dwarf Purple Ruellia, Dwarf Mexican Petunia)
• Loropetalum chinense var. rubrum ‘Burgundy’ (Chinese Fringe Flower, Chinese Witch Hazel)
• Wrightia antidysenterica (Snowflake, Milky Way, Arctic Snow, Winter Cherry Tree)

That’s the beautiful butterfly, Hypolimnas bolina jacintha (Jacintha Eggfly) visiting ever so frequently and resting on the pink Gomphrena globosa (Bachelor’s Buttons, Globe Amaranth), and the rest of the flowering plants, clockwise from top-left are :

• Dwarf Ixora ‘Red’ (Jungle Flame/Geranium, Flame of the Woods, Needle Flower)
• Portulaca grandiflora (Rose Moss, Moss Rose, Sun Plant), a bicoloured pink and white variety
• Anthurium andraeanum (Flamingo Flower/Lily, Tail Flower, Lacquer Anthurium, Oilcloth Flower, Painter’s Palette)
• Cuphea hyssopifolia (Mexican/False Heather, Hawaiian Heather), a purple variety
• Dwarf Euphorbia milii ‘Red’ (Crown of Thorns, Christ Plant, Christ Thorn/Crown)
• Cuphea hyssopifolia ‘Alba’ (Mexican/False Heather, Hawaiian Heather)
• Heliconia stricta ‘Carli’s Sharonii’ (Parrot’s Heliconia, Lobster Claw, Christmas Heliconia, etc.)
• Portulaca grandiflora (Rose Moss, Moss Rose, Sun Plant), magenta coloured
• Dieffenbachia bowmannii ‘Carriere’ (Dumb Cane, Spotted Dumbcane, Leopard Lily)
• White Zephyranthes (Rain Lily, Fairy Lily, Zephyr Lily)
• Brunfelsia calycina / pauciflora (Yesterday-today-tomorrow, Morning-noon-night, Kiss me quick)
• Ixora chinensis ‘Singapore Yellow’ (Jungle Flame/Geranium, Flame of the Woods, Needle Flower)
• Mussaenda philippica ‘Aurorae’ (White Mussaenda, Tropical Dogwood, Virgin Tree)

A buff-brown skipper butterfly, Suastus gremius (Palm Bob) feeding on the pink Bachelor’s Buttons, whose globose flowerheads are such a butterfly attractant to many species of butterflies.
Flowers included in the collage above, clockwise from top-right are :

• Purple Aster Cultivar x Frikartii (Frikart’s Daisy)
• Hydrangea macrophylla ‘Endless Summer’ (Mophead/Bigleaf Hydrangea, French Hydrangea, Hortensia) in blue
• Duranta erecta / repens (Pigeon Berry, Golden Dewdrop, Skyflower)
• Guzmania lingulata var. minor (Orange Star, Scarlet Star)
• Brunfelsia calycina / pauciflora (Yesterday-today-tomorrow, Morning-noon-night, Kiss me quick)
• Hymenocallis caribaea (Caribbean Spiderlily, Spider Lily, White Lily)
• Euphorbia milii (Crown of Thorns, Christ Plant, Christ Thorn/Crown), an orange-red variety.

Photos appended below give an overview of our front yard garden. Last month’s flower queen was the stunning Mussaenda philippica ‘Aurorae’ (White Mussaenda), that grew into a lovely small tree and flowering profusely for the first time after being given a hard prune about 4-4.5 months before. A vigorous grower but we’re hoping to keep it tamed and of reasonable height to suit our small-sized garden, and sufficiently spread to provide some shade for the Blue Hydrangea beneath.

A butterfly a day
keeps John and Jacq
joyful and gay!

It’s never too much to enjoy whatever nature has to offer, especially the fascinating butterflies, dragonflies and bugs that share our garden space. Precious moments of delightful joy is ours to seek and savour, and then be thankful to our Heavenly Father for such blessings of pleasurable encounters with nature.

This happened on November 5th around 4.45 pm. My beloved hubby called out joyfully to me, from the garden, “Darling, come..quick! The large black butterfly that came a few days ago is here again!” Though engrossed online, I quickly hastened outside with my new Canon Powershot SX 200IS camera in hand. Is it the butterfly with the tattered dress, I wondered?

Apparently so! But as I drew nearer, I could see that it was no longer ragged but adorned in the most beautiful attire! Simply magical, like Cinderella’s rags, changed to a beautiful gown! Hehe, same species but definitely not the same butterfly that visited us, October end.

Incidentally, this gorgeous butterfly is a female Hypolimnas bolina jacintha, also commonly known as Jacintha Eggfly.

No wonder, it was like a dancing queen, gliding ever so gracefully and elegantly on the Bachelor’s Buttons soft ‘helipad’. What a tease she was and so vain, but was I thrilled! She posed for 38 macro captures in 20 minutes, leaving intermittently and coming back for more. I was pleasantly surprised that she allowed me to get so close, almost touching her! Unbelievable, yet so true and so exciting!

Such an excellent subject to photograph, remaining still and long enough for me to capture the best of her poses, as if saying, “make me famous worldwide!

She seemed fascinated with the pink Gomphrena globosa that are currently flowering profusely, though she did perched briefly on the Catharanthus roseus, scented flowers of Brunfelsia calycina, Duranta erecta and the Mophead Hydrangeas nearby. These are some of the flowering plants that are truly butterfly attractants.

It is a fairly large-sized butterfly with wingspan between 9-11 cm wide. The base of its uppersides is brownish black, forewings darker than the hindwings. The latter are beautifully trimmed with distinct submarginal white markings that extend to the forewings as well, in lovely contrast. However, it’s the striking splashes of iridescent blue spots on the forewings that really sealed its gorgeousness, shimmering from bluish to purplish hues, depending on the light and its angle of pose.

The male, on the other hand, has very similar features like the Hypolimnas bolina bolina (Great Eggfly) on the uppersides, with 4 distinct blue-edged white patches on both the forewings and hindwings.

The undersides are as attractive too, beautifully patterned with white markings against a blackish brown background.

Like the Great Eggfly, Jacintha Eggfly is also a subspecies of Hypolimnas bolina and highly territorial and inevitably, both share similarities in features and host plants. The most distinguishing feature between these 2 subspecies is than the latter has wider and thicker submarginal bands on its hindwings, whereas those of the Great Eggfly are usually smaller, distinctly V-shaped and separate.

Taxonomy:

• Scientific name: Hypolimnas bolina jacintha (Drury, 1773); synonym: Papilio jacintha
• Common name: Jacintha Eggfly
• Kingdom: Animalia
• Phylum: Arthropoda
• Class: Insecta
• Order: Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths)
• Family: Nymphalidae (Brush-footed butterlies)
• Subfamily: Nymphalinae
• Genus: Hypolimnas
• Species: H. bolina (Common Eggfly)
• Subspecies: jacintha

Distribution range: Madagascar, Socotra, Mauritius, India to Myanmar, Andamans, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Peninsula Malaysia, Singapore, Sumatra.

Habitat: Fairly open forest, secondary growth and gardens.

Hostplant(s): Asystasia gangetica (Common Asystasia, Coromandel)

Other external links:

• BioLib.cz
• Butterfly Circle on H. bolina jacintha. View its impressive butterflies checklist photo gallery to help ID your butterfly or just sit back and enjoy its online ‘buterfly park’.

We’re extremely glad to have discovered this fascinating butterfly’s ID! Always great to know our visitors by name. Here are a few more photos of the perfect garden model, Hypolimnas bolina jacintha! What a lovely name for our dancing queen!

Anyway, we are contented and happy that some butterfly species do visit us regularly to keep us enchanted with nature.

That’s why gardening is so beneficial, invigorating and rewarding! Besides keeping us fit and healthy, creative and mentally alert, we get to enjoy the fruits of our labour, delighting in the abounding beauty and extravaganza of plants and all that they can offer.

At the same time, we get to marvel too, the many visitors that are attracted by the plants that reside in our tropical garden. Simply fabulous to do our part in making the world a better, healthier and greener place to live in. A win-win situation for nature and mankind!

October had been a wonderful month where much excitement have been focused on getting pictures of butterflies that visit our small garden plot. Though we’ve missed many while indoors doing other chores or I, simply glued to my computer, I’m most delighted all the same for having captured shots of quite a number of butterflies.

Grateful too to John, my darling spouse, who will call loudly from the garden for the camera gal whenever he spots a fluttering beauty, knowing fully well how I enjoy watching them and taking snaps of them.

This beauty on the left with fantastic markings is Graphium agamemnon (Tailed Jay), a large butterfly with a wingspan of 7-8 cm, resting on a leaf of Annona squamosa (Sugar Apple), a fruit tree that is one of its larval host plants. Some butterfly info here.

Quite challenging to capture it, as it’s in constant flight most times and will perch ever so briefly on few occasions. I just stood very still, like a statue next to the tree, with camera focused on a specific spot that it had settled before and hope for the best. Amazingly, it rested at the exact spot that I’d anticipated and posed for just one brief second for this single shot before taking flight again! Wow…was I elated!

This colourful butterfly, Peacock Pansy (Junonia almana javana), resting on Duranta erecta ‘Alba’ is our frequent visitor, usually seen basking in the midday to afternoon sun. A medium-sized butterfly with a wingspan of 5-6.5 cm.

It is so photogenic and such a willing and cooperative subject to photograph! The Peacock Pansy first introduced itself to us more than 2 years ago and had not stopped visiting since. Do enjoy many of its photos and profile at our previous article.

This is another very striking butterfly called Papilio demoleus, resting on Gomphrena globosa (Bachelor’s Buttons). A relatively large butterfly with a wingspan of 8-9 cm. It is easily seen from afar with such attractive chequered markings/patterns, attributing to it being commonly known as Chequered Swallowtail. Also, named Lime Butterfly/Swallowtail as citrus species are its main larval food plants. More butterfly info here.

So happy to have been able to capture this beauty with its wings beautifully spread, one of the first few shots with my new camera, Canon Powershot SX 200IS, presented by my darling about 2 weeks ago. Hmm…hope to capture more nature shots with this lovely camera which has a 12x optical zoom.

Though a first-timer to our garden, it apparently seemed very settled on the Bachelor’s Buttons! A large brownish-black butterfly with a wingspan of 8-10 cm, as yet unidentified.
{Update: Nov. 11 – it’s Hypolimnas bolina jacintha (Jacintha Eggfly)}

A pity that its pretty dress had been tattered at the lower hind wings, but still beautiful all the same. Haha…like us humans, pretty and handsome, though blemished with apparent shortcomings.

This pretty Common Palmfly (Elymnias hypermnestra agina was shot yesterday, resting on the Dwarf Yellow Mussaenda. Haha, couldn’t resist to go out to our garden to try to get one last butterfly shot before October ends.

It’s also a frequent visitor to our garden, a very shy one that will not open up its wings apart to display its bluish to purplish beauty within, when resting. I spent almost half an hour in the hot afternoon sun, hoping to get a shot of its spread-out wings (6-8 cm wide), only to be disappointed and sun-burnt!

More info on the Palmfly here.

Enjoy please!

Last edited: 20091111

Thank God that we live in the digital age, where a simple point and shoot digital camera can work wonders to bring out the awesomeness of nature on computers, the beautiful details not possible to enjoy with our naked eye…hehe, especially for retirees with failing eyesight like us.

Just love watching these Cycad Blue butterflies that are seen daily in a group of 3-6, in our garden, fluttering about or seemingly chasing each other almost incessantly…a marvel in our sight! Unlike, the larger species of butterflies that are so aware of humans and take flight the second we draw close!

They’re usually up and about on bright sunny days, from around 10 am where our front yard which faces southeast gets the morning sun till early evening.

Dancing around or nectar-feeding for hours on end on the colourful flowers of low-growing plants like the Cuphea hyssopifolia (False Heather), Torenia fournieri (Bluewings) and Gomphrena globosa (Bachelor’s Buttons) that attract them so.

Chilades pandava is a tiny weenie pretty butterfly with an average wingspan of about 1.5-2 cm, and definitely not wider than 3 cm. The base colour at the underside is greyish brown with white and darkish-brown markings that are beautifully patterned. The hind wings have some small black spots encircled in white, with 2 larger black spots that are inwardly crowned with orangy-yellow on the lower end and each hind wing has a short white-tipped tail.

The upperside, on the other hand, is softly toned lavender-blue, hence aptly given one of its common name, the Cycad Blue Butterfly. Anyway, my description of its beauty is so inadequate…let the photos do the talking or get a more detailed description of Chilades pandava’s appearance at Wikipedia.

Cycas species are the Cycad Blue Butterfly’s host plants. Its pale green-colored eggs are laid singly on newly emerging fronds that are circinately coiled. The early instar larvae are coloured purple but subsequently change to green in later stages. The caterpillars feed on tender emerging shoots of Cycad palms that have not yet hardened, thus destroying the potential beauty of these slow-growing ornamentals. Hence, in certain regions, Chilades pandava are reckoned as pests!

Sharing some butterfly information as follows:

Taxonomy:

• Scientific name: Chilades pandava pandava (syn.: Edales pandava, Catochrysops/Euchrysops pandava)
• Common name: Cycad Blue Butterfly, Plains Cupid
• Kingdom: Animalia
• Phylum: Arthropoda
• Class: Insecta
• Order: Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths)
• Family: Lycaenidae
• Subfamily: Lycaeninae
• Genus: Chilades
• Species: C. pandava pandava

Distribution range: India, Sri Lanka and Mauritius to Myanmar, Thailand and the Sundaland.

Habitat: Forest fringe, secondary growth and gardens.

Food plants: Caterpillars feed mainly on the emerging leaves of ornamental Cycas species, such as, Cycas revoluta (Sago Palm), Cycas rumphii, Cycas micronesica (Fadang) and Cycas sphaerica, etc. Larvae are attended to by ants that protect them from parasites and predators, while at the same time feeding on the sugary liquid exuded from the caterpillars’ backs.

Other external links:

• University of Guam (Cooperative Extension Service) on Chilades pandava
• Journal by Dr. A.J. Solomon Raju, on the life-cycle of the Plains Cupid butterfly – an interesting read.

Simply spectacular!

To be able to see such a captivating hawk-moth in person is just too marvelous for words. And, to see its transformation from a shriveled leaf into such a strikingly beautiful moth within less than a minute is another wonderful experience altogether. Like magic actually! Reminds me of The Frog Prince fairy tale where the frog changed to a prince!

Walking leisurely in our tropical garden last Sunday morning, I noticed a dried and shriveled brown leaf amongst the bright and colorful foliage of our Arrowhead Croton bush. As it looked unsightly, I moved forward to remove it but the second I did that it wriggled and became alive! Eeek…instinctively, I released it and ran inside to grab my camera. I had imagined it to be a hummingbird moth, having experienced such an incident before but had missed the opportunity to capture a shot then, as it took flight immediately. (Just visualize the insect in the above image to be colored brown and you’ll understand why I was deceived into seeing it as a shriveled leaf – anyway, I am positive it was brown initially).

When I returned in a jiffy, I was astounded by what I saw – it had changed dramatically into the most beautiful and colorful hawk-moth I have ever seen! So perfectly camouflaged with colors that blend well in the surrounding foliage. Wow, what a stunning beauty!

Surprisingly, it hung suspended beneath some leaves, sheltered from the sun and at the same spot all day long. It was not deterred at all by my presence or the camera that was held just a couple of inches away as I delightfully took numerous shots. It stayed put for hours, wary neither of the shuffling of leaves nor the frequent spot-check by us throughout the day. It was still rested at the very same spot when I had my final peep after completing our gardening chores by dusk! Though pleased, I was a little dumbfounded that it did not take flight earlier. Could it have been a newly emerged hawk-moth, too immature or innocent to know fear? Nonetheless, by the next morning, it was gone!

What a blessed and joyful experience!

Daphnis nerii or Oleander Hawk-moth is a member of the Sphingidae family, whose members are commonly known as the hummingbird, sphinx or hawk moths. This beautiful and attractive species has a wingspan of 8-12 cm. Its forewings are intricately patterned in gorgeous shades of olive green and marked with small blotches of pink and white, including a pale white apical band on each forewing. The hindwings, on the other hand, are greyish green, with a pale white wavy line. Body is mostly olive green too, with white markings and measures about 5 cm from head to tail. It rest by day with its abdomen protruding upwards and flies mostly just after dusk or before dawn. Adults feed on flowers such as Petunia, Lonicera, Nicotiana, Saponaria and others.

Taxonomy:

• Scientific name: Daphnis nerii (Linnaeus, 1758); (Other names: Sphinx nerii, Deilephila nerii)
• Common name: Oleander Hawk-moth
• Kingdom: Animalia
• Phylum: Arthropoda
• Class: Insecta
• Order: Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths)
• Family: Sphingidae (Sphinx and Hawkmoths)
• Subfamily: Macroglossinae (Harris, 1839)
• Tribe: Macroglossini (Harris, 1839)
• Genus: Daphnis
• Species: nerii

World Distribution: South Europe, in the tropics and subtropics of Africa and Asia. North Africa eastwards into Asia.

Habitat: Dry river-beds, oasis, warm hillsides and mostly seen wherever its food plant, the Oleander is.

Food plants: Caterpillar feeds mainly on the flowers and young leaves of Nerium Oleander. (Do read Eddy’s comment dated Feb 13, 2009 below to know how devouring they can be!). Other minor foodplants include Periwinkle (Vinca spp.), Grape Vine (Vitis vinifera), Ipomoea, Gardenia, Adenium multiflorum and others.

External link: Check for more information on Daphnis nerii at Tony Pittaway’s site and his species list on Sphingadae of the Western Palaearctic.

Here are a few more photos of the Oleander Hawk-moth that visited us. It was a perfect model that day!

Last update: February 14, 2009

The Common Palmfly is a nymphalid butterfly that often visits our tropical garden, especially attracted by our potted palm trees, located at the frontyard as well as the backyard.

We grow three palm species, namely Manila Palm, Lady Palm and Macarthuri Palm and all have been ‘invaded’ by caterpillars of different sizes, mostly green-colored. Fortunately, the palm leaflets are plentiful enough to be spared without losing their overall elegant outlook. This brown beauty is definitely one of the culprits, leaving its mark on the host plants!

Elymnias hypermnestra agina is a medium to large butterfly with a wingspan of about 6-8 cm. On the upperside, the butterfly is bluish-black with a series of blue to purple submarginal spots on the forewing, and purplish-brown on the hindwing. The underside has fabulous brown tones with subtle purplish-grey markings and a characteristic triangular shape in bright contrasting colors at the apex of the forewing. There is also a white spot in the center of the costa on the hindwing. The female resembles the male but is slightly larger, lighter in color and has a few whitish submarginal spots on the upper surface of the hindwings.

It flies in a slow flapping and gliding motion, stopping ever so often on the palm fronds or concrete walls nearby, after each short flight. Usually, pausing for quite some while, enabling one to enjoy its beauty. A pity though, that its wings are always seen folded at rest! I would have love too if it will spread its wings horizontal, at least once for me!

Taxonomy:

• Scientific name: Elymnias hypermnestra agina
• Common name: Common Palmfly
• Kingdom: Animalia
• Phylum: Arthropoda
• Class: Insecta
• Order: Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths)
• Family: Nymphalidae
• Subfamily: Satyrinae
• Genus: Elymnias
• Species: hypermnestra agina

Range: Sri Lanka and India to Taiwan and Indo-China, through Malaysia to the Lesser Sunda Islands and the Philippines.

Habitat: Forest and woodlands, as well as home gardens and urban parks. Mostly abundant wherever its food plant of the Palmae (Arecaceae) family thrives

Food plants: Caterpillar feeds on the leaves of various Palm species of the plant family, Arecaceae (Palmae), especially Golden Cane Palm (Dypsis lutescens) and include Coconut (Cocos nucifera), Lady Palm (Rhapis excelsa), Manila Palm (Veitchia merrillii) and Macarthur Palm (Ptychosperma macarthurii).

External link: Check Nature Society (Singapore) for more information on the Common Palmfly.

This attractive dark-brown skipper butterfly seems to love visiting our urban home-garden. It is seen so frequently flitting from bloom to bloom that I was never in a haste to capture its image knowing that I will never run out of photo opportunity.

However, one morning early last month, it decided to perch close-by to where I was gardening, looking so sweet in contrasty colors with the light yellow Crossandra flowers (as seen in pictures below) that made me go for my camera immediately. See how sweetly she posed! She gave me 10 marvelous images before saying good-bye! How lovely!

Lerema accius is a medium-sized skipper butterfly with a stout hairy body, possessing large black eyes resembling gem stones and bent antennae clubs. Wings are dark brown that span 3.2-4.5 cm wide. The upperside of the male’s forewing has a dark black stigma, and with lesser white spots than the female, whose spots are larger and transparent. There is a row of 3 small white spots on the costa of the forewing and several more larger ones (3-4 on the female, whereas one on the male) lower down the centre, on both the upper and under surfaces. The hindwing, on the other hand, is unmarked on both surfaces, and has dark and light patches (greyish-brown) on the underside. Sometimes, the underside edges of both pair of wings can show a purple tint.

As characteristic of most skippers, Clouded Skipper has a fast skipping flight and a typical basking posture in which the forewings are held at a 45-degree angle while the hindwings are fully spread.

Taxonomy:

• Scientific name: Lerema accius (J.E. Smith, 1797)
• Common name: Clouded Skipper
• Kingdom: Animalia
• Phylum: Arthropoda
• Class: Insecta
• Order: Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths)
• Superfamily: Hesperioidea
• Family: Hesperiidae (skippers)
• Subfamily: Hesperiinae (grass skippers)
• Genus: Lerema
• Species: accius

Range: Wide area of the southern half and southeast of the United States, extending south to Mexico and northern South America. Having seen in Malaysia too, I wonder how far it has travelled in the Oriental regions?

Habitat: Forest edges and clearings near rivers and swamps, as well as grassy areas around woods and woodland clearings. Even found in home gardens and urban parks.

Food: Caterpillar feeds on the grasses of many species, while the adult are attracted to various flowers, colored pink, purple, white or yellow, such as Buttonbush, Lantana and Crossandra.

External links: Check from Mountain Prairie Information Node for range map and more information on Clouded Skipper. Enjoy more images here.

What a beauty! Found this attractive looking orange-brown butterfly, Cephrenes trichopepla, in our garden about two months ago, upon our return from a lunch date. It was flitting around the Periwinkle plant, probably taking in nectar from the purplish pink blooms. But what really astounded me that afternoon as I neared it, was that it landed on my right hand, just a few inches above my wrist as if to greet my return. A pity though that I was unable to capture that precious occasion as the camera was held in the very hand it landed on! Nonetheless, I was as happy to have captured some images at all before it flew away.

Yellow Palm Dart is a medium sized skipper butterfly with a broad body that is about 2 cm long, possesses large black eyes resembling gem stones and has relatively small wings that span 34-36 mm wide. As characteristic of most skippers, it has a rapid, jerky and skipping flight, and a typical wing pose when settled, with the forewings held partially open or upright while the hindwings are laid horizontal.

Both male and female have the same coloration, that is, mainly darkish brown and orange, a fabulous contrast indeed. The upperside of an adult butterfly is brownish black with extensive orange-yellow bands, while the underside is a lighter orange-yellow with dark brown dots and splotches that include a distinguishable spot near base of its hindwings.

In fact, the Yellow Palm Dart is closely related to the Orange Palm Dart (Cephrenes augiades) and both species look so similar that an untrained eye can mistake one for the other (I did until I researched for this article). Compare the images presented by James Cook University of C. trichopepla and C. augiades to see the subtle differences between them.

Taxonomy:

• Scientific name: Cephrenes trichopepla (Lower, 1908)
• Common name: Yellow Palm Dart
• Kingdom: Animalia
• Phylum: Arthropoda
• Class: Insecta
• Order: Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths)
• Superfamily: Hesperioidea
• Family: Hesperiidae
• Subfamily: Hesperiinae
• Genus: Cephrenes
• Species: trichopepla

Range: Australia and Oriental regions.

Habitat: Tropical and subtropical coastal or subcoastal moist woodlands, suburban gardens, urban parks and home gardens, especially where palm trees (its host plants) are available for breeding.

Food: Caterpillar feeds on the leaves of various Palm species of the plant family, Arecaceae (Palmae), which includes the Coconut (Cocos nucifera), Cabbage Tree Palms (Livistona species) and Date Palms (Phoenix species). It lives in a shelter made from joining palm fronds together with silk and feeds from therein.

Breeding: Check this data sheet that covers the life history of C. trichopepla extensively.