Poritia philota philota?

[horace2264]

Met Sunny in CCA during my lunch time outing. Sunny was shooting a "Sumatran Gem" when I ran into him. However the butt took off soon later showing its bright bluish upperside as it departed.

After parting company, I went on to explore the trail alone and ran into a group of three "Sumatran Gem" several hundred metres away. With the butt in the viewfinder, I found its coloration a shade darker (see pic 1) than the previous specimen I saw in previous outings. The butts exhibited this habit of rapid wing opening/closing routine when they landed on a new perch (see pic 2). Checking C&P4, the uppersides actually matche those of Poritia philota philota rather than Poritia sumatrae sumatrae. Looks like another +1 for me.

Sunny, you should check whether the Sumatran Gem you shot is actually this other species.

Horace

[richardlbong]

Congrats horace. Looks like you hit jackpot again.
Richard

[Peacock Royal]

Good capture. Well dome.

[Commander]

Great shots, Horace. Especially where you nailed the upperside as well. Yes, this is P. philota. A bit hard to separate the two species just by the undersides alone, but the upperside confirms it.

[horace2264]

Thanks, Richard and Federick. Hit 200 mark with this +1.

Thanks, Khew for confirming the ID. It was a fruitful outing today with the fine and sunny weather enticing many species of butts to come out. Many Arhopala speces, most of which I cannot ID, are out in force. I am sure Sunny will agree.

Horace

[Peacock Royal]

Congratulations that you have reached the 200 mark.
With your luck and your highly observant skills in the field, you can nail more rare species and even discorver new species.

[Silverstreak]

Horace,

Congrates on hitting the 200 marks with a rare butt!!


Unfortunately , the one I shot is a Sumatran Gem ... I saw the upper wing .

Here is a comparison .... other than the difference in coloration ,there appears to be distinct differences on the under wing marking especially the hind wing termen area.

Butts activities in the CCA is picking up with lots of Flos and Arhopalas.

[Commander]

Sunny, can do a close up zoom crop on the eyes?

[Silverstreak]

Hmm appears that the eyes on the sumatran gems is green while the philota is grey...

[Commander]

Yup... that's what I noticed....grey eyes. I remember the Sumatran Gems to have green eyes in most of my shots. But then again, I'm not sure if it's always consistently green.