Poritia sumatrae sumatrae (Sumatran Gem)

Shot this female Sumatran Gem at MNT today.
Was happy for a while thinking that it might be Poritia philota . But after I had a long range shot of its uppersdie, I know I have no luck again.

I'm going to go and have a cold shower!!!

I drool over these species!!! We are supposed to have 18 in peninsular Thailand (including related genera), but I am yet to come accross one! Do they have a preferred type of habitat? I may be looking in the wrong places, or we simply may not have the right habitat on the Island, in which case I'll just have to shoot myself!

Les
Delias Rule, OK (Just a bit more than the Portiinae)

Federick,

Nice shots and a rare upper wing shot of the Sumatran Gem too!

:cheers:



Les,

Over here they mostly hang around the shade where sunlight filters through. They are also real tiny, and unless they flutter , it is kind of difficult to pick them up..... keep looking you will find them .:bsmile:

Keep looking Federick. They're in there somewhere. :)

Les, we only have two known Poritia species in Singapore, so we're the ones who should be envious of what you have up in Thailand. Two Poritia have already gone extinct even before the 20th century (according to C&P4). The other related ones which are supposed to have existed here in Singapore are three Simiskina and one Deramas, again all gone kaput even before 1901, based on the checklist in C&P4. ;P

Don't worry Federick sooner or later they find time to meet you. Nice shot BTW.
Richard

Thanks guys for the encouraging words.
Will look out for a few elusive species around that area.

Thanks for the advice. I may have already seen one or more without realising it. The have been a lot of little blue flashes going past me. They are very easy to lose track of, aren't they.

By the way Frederick, isn't it the female you've shot? That makes this even better, because, correct me if I'm mistaken, aren't the females much rarer than the males?

Les
Delias Rule, OK

Les, most of the them I saw only the undersides of this speciecs and I really can't tell the difference between a male and a female with confidence. So, not sure if the female is rarer than the male.

Perhaps other members could enlighten us.