26-Nov-06 Ubin

Went Ubin second time for butts hunting. This time I started with the sensory trail and then trekked along the main road to Maman Beach and back to the jetty area. Decided not to go the butterfly hill as it was drizzling with threatening cloud cover. The highlight of the hunt was my record shot of the palm king, and my second encounter of the Hypolycaena thecloides thecloides. The ubin version of the thecloides (pic 2 and 3) has a much richer orange coloration than that I saw in the west of the Singapore.

Besides the common species like chestnut bob (pic 1, mating pair), dark brand bush brown, chocolate and blue pansies, grass yellows and pygmy grass blue, species I encountered and was able to Id are:
1. Common mormon
2. Coconut skipper
3. Striped Albatross
4. Common palmfly
5. Palm king
6. Forget-me-not
7. Hypolycaena thecloides thecloides
8. Leopard
9. Great Eggfly
10. Centaur oak blue
11. Common mime
12. Psyche

Horace

I like that upperside shot of H. thecloides. :) The underside shot is also well taken. If you have a wider angle shot of it, perhaps you could crop out the distracting perch and have more of the nice green background in the composition.

What did you see in the west? There appears to be two variants of the Common Tit (H. erylus teatus) - a totally grey one, and a partially orange one. You could have seen one of the orange variant. Do you have a shot to compare?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Commander

I like that upperside shot of H. thecloides. :) The underside shot is also well taken. If you have a wider angle shot of it, perhaps you could crop out the distracting perch and have more of the nice green background in the composition.

What did you see in the west? There appears to be two variants of the Common Tit (H. erylus teatus) - a totally grey one, and a partially orange one. You could have seen one of the orange variant. Do you have a shot to compare?

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Unfortunately I don't have a wider angle shot of that particular pose for cropping , although I do have quite a number of other shots with different background. I just selected the one shot where the butts looks the sharpest and with the most details for posting.

I did not travel to the western part of Ubin due to the worsening weather at that time. However I did shoot a common tit along the sensory trail (oops, forgot to include this in the first post) with the orange coloration.

Horace

Horace, the H thecloides thecloides taken in the west with you is only very slightly lighter in the orange color. See shot posted below.
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...hecloides2.jpg
Richard

Quote:

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Originally Posted by richardlbong

Horace, the H thecloides thecloides taken in the west with you is only very slightly lighter in the orange color. See shot posted below.

Richard

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Yes, my shots taken in the west also showed the same ligher orange coloration.
Perhaps we need to have observations of more specimen from both sites to be more conclusive about this difference in coloration.

Horace

There's nothing wrong with your latest shot of this species, Horace. It's just that you got a very fresh specimen which has probably just eclosed. Look at the upperside shot which shows its wings and tails in perfect condition.

Yes, the coloration difference could be due to wear-and-tear on the scales.

There was another specimen in the same locality which has the tornal part of one hindwing missing. I was lucky that the pristine specimen was willing to pose for me for a fairly lengthy session, although it occasionally took off to chase off intruding forget-me-nots. It was a pity that I did not have my tripod with me for better shots under the not-so-ideal lighting condition.

Horace

Great shots on H thecloides .
My first time looking at the upperside.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Peacock Royal

Great shots on H thecloides .
My first time looking at the upperside.

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Actually in the checklist photos for H. thecloides thecloides, there is an upperside shot by Wang Peck.

According to the write-up in the checklist for this species, both sexes have the same upperside feature, so I am not able to tell whether this is a male or female.


Horace