Finally, I am a Plane spotter!

[Painted Jezebel]

For the last few months I have hardly ventured out at all on Samui. I finally bit the bullet and went to the doctor. It worked! Yesterday, for the first time in 3-4 months I wanted to go out.

I had a couple of nice surprises.

1) Bindahara phocides phocides - The Plane. I had only seen this species once, back in 2008, and then it was a very worn, tailless specimen.
2) Arhopala asinarus tonguva - Broad-banded Oakblue. When I first arrived on Samui, this was the species I came across most often. However, I had not seen it for 2 years, and was quite worried as to its survival, as I regularly visited its old hunting grounds.
3 & 4) Two Mycalesis specimens. I have great trouble with the mineus group, particularly with their wet and dry season forms, I hope someone can confirm the IDs of these two.

[Commander]

Congrats on nailing the Plane, Les! That's a pristine fella! :cheers:

[Glorious Begum]

Congrats Les. I have not seen it yet over here. :-(

[Great Mormon]

Congrads Les, thats a beautiful shot of the plane.

[Blue Jay]

Great shot of the plane.:cheers:
1st myclaesis should be a dark brand
2nd one: ???

[Angiud]

Congratulations, Les, for your first exit! :cheers:

And congratulations (with a hint of envy :bsmile:) for the sighting of The Plane! And a good pic too.

I hope to catch it someday too!

Maybe in the future we could make an exit together, I've never been in Samui (for butterflies :bsmile: )

[Yamfly]

Congrats on spotting & shooting The Plane! :thumbsup:

[Psyche]

1st Mycalesis should be M. intermedia wet season form.
The identation line on hindwing to ouside of the white band indicates mineus or intermedia.
The striae around the ocelli are broadened & white, and the lower 3 but last ocelli are out of line.(In mineus they look almost perfectly in line.)

2nd Mycalesis should be M. perseoides.
The shape of the identation line is long & jagged; four dark lines are present across the forewing cell but very faint in wet season form.

TL Seow:cheers:

[WillFolsom]

Les: Glad you managed to get out and about. Looks like a productive day.

William

[Painted Jezebel]

Thank you Seow for the identifications and ID insights. They are always valuable. I only wish I could remember them all!

Thanks also, everyone, for the kind comments. It was a very enjoyable day (I had almost forgotten what that was like), apart from the Bee sting, though it does confirm my reputation for being accident prone!:grin2:

Antonio, yes we must get together sometime, both on Samui and KP. However, I suggest that we wait now until after the rainy season. The weather here is so unpredictable at the moment, it is impossible to plan for anything. For example, the day I went out was beautiful at 9:00, but by 12:30 we had an enormous storm which lasted most of the afternoon. Yesterday was the opposite!

[Psyche]

Found a very helpful feature in the ID of M. intermedia.
The upper end of the hindwing white band is distinctly bent in.

TL Seow:cheers:

[Painted Jezebel]

Thanks, Seow. I had noticed this on my photos but was not sure if it was a standard characteristic, or just a small individual variation.

[Psyche]

Thanks, Seow. I had noticed this on my photos but was not sure if it was a standard characteristic, or just a small individual variation.

Found on all 4 valid examples ofM. intermedia both wet & dry season forms in C&P4 ,and Fleming's S30 & s31 (as M. horsfleldi mucianus, but corrected by C&P4 in its Checklist).

TL Seow:cheers:

[moloch]

Nice finds and photos, Les. I am glad that you are feeling better and getting out. I hope that there are enough gaps in the rain for you to take lots of pics.