Sabah, March-April 2019

[Banded Yeoman]

Athyma selenophora males were quite numerous in the waterfall trail. Each time an Athyma appeared, it would turn out to be this species, except for ONE occasion... Which I'll post in the future (only a record shot). We didn't see any females though, which look very unique if I'm not mistaken.

[atronox]

Athyma selenophora males were quite numerous in the waterfall trail. Each time an Athyma appeared, it would turn out to be this species,except for ONE occasion... Which I'll post in the future (only a record shot). We didn't see any females though, which look very unique if I'm not mistaken.

I'm gonna call it and say that it's Athyma cama

[Banded Yeoman]

I'm gonna call it and say that it's Athyma cama

Hmmm.. It was gigantic...

[atronox]

Hmmm.. It was gigantic...

Well that can only be one other species...

[Banded Yeoman]

Well that can only be one other species...

Yepp.

Concur it is A. selenophora amhara.

Thanks Dr Seow for the confirmation and references!

Getting back to the travelogue: Our shooting started much earlier than I what I'm used to in Singapore, around 8.30 a.m. At this time, the Polyommatini (Hedge Blues) were already out in full force, puddling at the car park and along the stream. It's quite a lovely sight to have them fluttering up and down the stream, like little pieces of blue confetti. I'll post my images of the ones I shot at a later date, since I haven't gotten round to processing my shots yet. I suspect the ones I shot... are all the same species.

Here are more common ones that we encountered numerous times over the trip. The subfamily Cyrestinae is only represented by the charming but annoyingly skittish The Little Maplet (Chersonesia peraka peraka) in Singapore. I was thrilled to see the other Mapwing species for the first time. This was the first one I encountered:

The Straight Line Mapwing (Cyrestis nivea nivalis)





Not long after, another species appeared: the gorgeous Common Mapwing (Cyrestis maenalis seminigra). This Bornean subspecies has especially heavy black markings. I was so excited to shoot it that I amassed about 200 shots of it. The next day, it became clear that this was one of the MOST common butterflies in the area.







Along the short rainforest trail which led to the waterfall, several species of Nymphalidae managed to appear every single day. One species which I was eager to find - and then completely overdosed with was the Black Prince (Rohana parisatis borneana). There was one instance where I found at least 10 of them feeding on a tiled bench at the waterfall! Watching them as very intriguing. It was like staring into small, busily flapping voids. I also found out that they are FRUSTRATINGLY skittish. I refused to chase after any individual, and only shot them if they landed right in front of me.


As Uncle Khew posted earlier, The Staff Sergeant (Athyma selenophora amhara) was also a very common species, seen on all days. In typical Athyma fashion, they too were skittish and I only nailed my shots on our third day of shooting.

[Banded Yeoman]

Aaron, here's my pathetic record shot of this crazy species, seen once, in a flash, and not encountered again:

The Great Sergeant (Athyma larymna elisa)



These beautiful Himalayan Jesters (Symbrenthia hypselis balunda) were also often seen flying rapidly up and down the trail. This individual was photographed at the toilet towards the end of the trail. I really adore the intricate underside of this species.





Another species that got me excited was the uniquely shaped Club Beak (Libythea myrrha borneensis). My excitement quickly wore down when I found out how easily spooked my movement they were, always taking off into a jerky, gliding flight when I committed to shooting one. Luckily, this one landed in just the right spot for me to snap it with minimal movement.



And here's a candid shot, taken by Mei Yee, of us shooting the Jester outside the toilet. It was puddling on... toilet water.

[atronox]

What??! That is hardly pathetic at all!! I would love to see this sp. in the field someday. Apparently this ssp. is quite a lot larger than the other sspp.

Nice diversity of butterflies there