Commander
28-Feb-2011, 12:02 AM
Since the Malayan Birdwing is still pending eclosion, and Simon's discovery of this rare skipper yesterday at Ubin, this little bugger has beaten the Birdwing to the tape for Singapore's 300th species. :gbounce: And Simon is credited with the discovery of this species, which is new to Singapore, as it was not recorded before here. :cheers:
I was determined to solve the mystery that Simon started yesterday, so when Chng, the twins and Bobby said that they wanted to go to Ubin today, I decided to go and hunt for this pesky fella again. Fortunately, the Butt Fairy smiled just as we were about to call it a day. It was almost like looking for a needle in a haystack. :sweat:
It appeared at the same location where Simon spotted it yesterday, but it was slightly more skittish, behaving similar to a Plastingia naga. It was skipping near a palm, where Anthony located two young caterpillars. So these cats may be of this species. Hopefully, Horace can oblige with a confirmation later. :)
As for now, we have species #300. But having seen the upperside, my own conclusion is that this is not a Salanoemia similis. The upperside markings correspond more closely to the Yellow Streak Darter (Salanoemia tavoyana). Will send a shot to Seow and Dr Kirton for confirmation later.
So in the meantime, we'll record it as Salanoemia sp. until confirmation.
Though C&P4 states that S. tavoyana is known only from South Burma and Kedawi, how it came to appear on a little offshore island in Singapore is one of Mother Nature's mysteries!
Here's a handheld shot without flash taken of our little "Spartan" 300 this morning. :)
I was determined to solve the mystery that Simon started yesterday, so when Chng, the twins and Bobby said that they wanted to go to Ubin today, I decided to go and hunt for this pesky fella again. Fortunately, the Butt Fairy smiled just as we were about to call it a day. It was almost like looking for a needle in a haystack. :sweat:
It appeared at the same location where Simon spotted it yesterday, but it was slightly more skittish, behaving similar to a Plastingia naga. It was skipping near a palm, where Anthony located two young caterpillars. So these cats may be of this species. Hopefully, Horace can oblige with a confirmation later. :)
As for now, we have species #300. But having seen the upperside, my own conclusion is that this is not a Salanoemia similis. The upperside markings correspond more closely to the Yellow Streak Darter (Salanoemia tavoyana). Will send a shot to Seow and Dr Kirton for confirmation later.
So in the meantime, we'll record it as Salanoemia sp. until confirmation.
Though C&P4 states that S. tavoyana is known only from South Burma and Kedawi, how it came to appear on a little offshore island in Singapore is one of Mother Nature's mysteries!
Here's a handheld shot without flash taken of our little "Spartan" 300 this morning. :)