Kubah NP

We visited Sarawak for five nights before returning to the peninsula. We split our stay between Kubah NP (3 nights) and Permai Beach Resort (2 nights). Both were lovely but Kubah was my favourite due to its tall forest and diverse animal life.

Here are a few shots of the park from the road to Kuching:
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...0/habitat8.jpg

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...bitatkubah.jpg

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...0/habitat9.jpg


The park has both hostels as well as nice chalets. The chalets were good value when the costs were split among the four of us.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...ommodation.jpg


There were several trails in the park but the best was a fairly short walk to a waterfall. The trail descended through forest with lots of big trees with buttressed roots.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...00/habitat.jpg

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...0/habitat5.jpg

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3.../habitat11.jpg

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...0/habitat4.jpg

Aroids were numerous in damp areas along the way:
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3.../habitat12.jpg


Waterfall:
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...b/habitat2.jpg


I saw a few butteflies near the falls. Some of these responded to shrimp paste bait including these Blue Helens (Papilio prexaspes).
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...allowtail4.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...llowtail3c.jpg


Seow identified this 'Chilasa lookalike' as a Graphium(Paranticopsis) ramaceus ramaceus. It certainly looks different to the race on the peninsula. I looked at photos on the web but only saw shots of those with lots of white on the outer, lower wings.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...00b/crow4a.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...00b/crow4b.jpg


Five-barred Swallowtail (Pathysa antiphates) stopped a few times at the bait.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...allowtai2l.jpg



Other butterflies at the falls included what I think to be a Athyma reta.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...0b/nepthis.jpg

Two species of pierrots stopped at the bait but neither were very cooperative for photos.

Discolampa ethion
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...b/Pierrot2.jpg


This shot is lousy but the pierrot looked unusual to me. Seow identified it as probably a local race of Caleta elna.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...0b/Pierrot.jpg


This Eurema had a black bar along the lower edge of the upper wing. For that reason, I thought it to be Eurema tilaha. Seow, pointed out, however that E. tilaha (now E. nicevillei) has a cell spot. Therefore, Seow identified this as E. tominia.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...00b/Eurema.jpg


This tiny Eurema also flew near the falls. I originally thought that it might have been a Eurema ada due to the small size. Seow indicated that this was not correct due to the wing shape and large black border on the forewing. Seow identified it as Eurema hecabe latilimbata.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...0b/eurema2.jpg


Gulls stopped a few times. I think that these are Cepora iudith.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...b/Cepora2a.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...0b/Cepora3.jpg

I saw other butterflies in the afternoon as I followed the trail from the waterfall back to the car.

Tagiades lavatus due to no cell spots and white with single black dot. (thanks, Seow)
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...b/skippera.jpg


Notocrypta clavata due to no spots and white band continued to costa , upper margin lightly notched. (thanks, Seow).
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...b/skipper2.jpg


Taxila haquinus (thanks, Aaron and Seow). This species was seen twice.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...harlequina.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...arlequin2a.jpg


Zemeros emesoides was seen only once.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...Planchello.jpg


This Posy had a strange pattern on the upperwing. Seow indicated that this appears to be a local race of Drupadia ravindra.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...000b/Posy2.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...1000b/Posy.jpg


I was happy to find my first Branded Imperial (Eooxylides tharis). It always landed on a steep-sided gully where I could not approach it but I was able to take this record shot from the walkway above it.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...1000b/blue.jpg

Again, David, wow!

And your pictures become more and more beautiful!

Amazing trip

The P. prexaspes looks amazingly different.
The long hiindwing cell ID'ed the 'Chilasa lookalike' as a Graphium(Paranticopsis)-should be G. ramaceus ramaceus.
The lycaenid is probably a local race of C. elna.
1st Eurema could be E. tominia. (E. tilaha (now E. nicevillei) have a cell spot.)
The 2nd Eurema doesn't quite match E. ada, which have rounded forewings. This one also have very broad black forewing border.
Flat is Tagiades lavatus (no cell spots ;white with single black dot.)
Demon is Notocrypta clavata. ( no spots; white band continued to costa , upper margin lightly notched.)
Riodinid is Laxita teneta, Bornean endemic.
Posy appeared to be a local race of Drupadia ravindra. (no other match found.)

TL Seow:cheers:

David:

I enjoy walking down the trail with you and then seeing what's you've managed to capture. Some of your shots were truly spectacularly sharp and beautiful. Well done. Looking forward to more of your work. William

David,

It is always a joy to read your travelogue.

Thanks for sharing these!


Cheers!

Thanks, guys, for the feedback.

Seow, thanks for all your help sorting out the names of the species in these photos.

I looked for paintings/pictures of the E. tominia and came across this online book. Do you know of it?
http://books.google.com.au/books?id=...ominia&f=false

"The families of Melanesian Moths and Butterflies" Holloway et al.


Here are more shots of another Blue Helen that was puddling at a stream crossing along the trail to the falls.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...allowtail6.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...allowtail5.jpg

I will add more photos tonight.

Regards,

Laxita teneta!!!:redbounce

David, great photos, as usual. The Laxita is wonderful, and, as Seow says, the P. prexaspes ssp. is unusual.

There are 3 photos I am hoping you will show, if only to confirm ID, namely numbers 18, 107 and 138 on the 1000a folder.

Grahium ramaceus ramaceus from Borneo.
Note this is the upperside. The white is reduced on the underside.
http://www.archive.org/stream/transa.../n404/mode/1up

Eurema tominia from Sulawesi. It is very similar to E. tilaha(Java) & E. nicevillei.
Note the variability of the black borders in the 2 specimen 1 & 2.
The Bornean race could have even less black.
http://www.archive.org/stream/umdiee.../n103/mode/1up

The 2nd Eurema is Eurema hecabe latilimbata, the Bornean/Sumatran subspecies.
(2 cell spots ; wide black border.)
The name latilimbata means wide-bordered.

TL Seow:cheers:

Thanks, Aaron and Les. Les, I will be posting those photos.

Paralaxita damajanti (thanks, Seow)
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...harlequin5.jpg


I saw Allotinus sp. a few times. Probably Allotinus horsfieldi (thanks, Seow)
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...0b/darkie2.jpg


Allotinus strigatus (thanks, Seow)
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...00b/darkie.jpg


Chersonesia rahria at the falls
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...0b/maplet1.jpg


Thaumantis odona was only seen once.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...ungleGlory.jpg


I flushed a few of these big Lyssa along the trail.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...000b/Lyssa.jpg


I found this Banded Swallowtail (Papilio demolion) while looking for reptiles on a night walk along the trail. For once, it was not moving!
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...allowtaila.jpg

Hi David, nice and interesting records! Thanks for sharing:)

Faunis stomphax was seen once.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...000b/fauna.jpg

Faunis kirata (thanks, Aaron and Seow)
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...00b/faun10.jpg


The colour and pattern on this Faun seemed unusual to me. It is probably a local race of Faunis gracilis. (thanks, Seow)
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...00b/faun20.jpg


Saturn (Zeuxidia amethystus)
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...00b/saturn.jpg


A few barons were observed in the forest. These don't have much white on the lower wings. Tanaecia aruna (thanks, Aaron and Seow)
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...00b/baronb.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...000b/baron.jpg


Streaked Blue Brilliant (Simiskina pheretia). (thanks, Seow). This beautiful wing had fallen onto the trail. I've never seen the species before. It looked to be a very nicely marked lycaenid.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3.../bluewing1.jpghttp://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3.../bluewing2.jpg

Terinos terpander terpander (thanks, Les and Seow). This lovely Assyrian appeared at bait one morning.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...lAssyrian2.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...alAssyrian.jpg


Malayan Sunbeam (Curetis santana) (thanks, Seow)
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...0b/sunbeam.jpg


A tattered Green Imperial (Manto hypoleuca). (thanks, Aaron and Seow).
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...000b/blue2.jpg


Bluebottle (Graphium sarpedon)
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...luebottleb.jpg


Cruiser (Vindula dejone)
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...b/cruiser3.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...b/cruiser2.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...0b/cruiser.jpg

Thanks for the feedback, EC Goh.

Seow, thanks for info and links.


Regards,

2nd faun might be a Faunis kirata. Not sure about this one.
The fallen wings are amazing, they seem to belong to a Deramas sp. that had an unfortunate encounter with some predator. Lucky you for spotting them:D:redbounce
Baron could be a Tanaecia aruna and orange lycaenid is Manto hypoleuca
Always glad to see lycaenids.:)

so many new butterflies in just a few days,Amazing!
you inspire me.:bsmile:

The Terinos sp. has to be the local ssp. of T .terpander, it is actually very similar to the ssp. found in Cambodia . The shape of the hindwing confirms this.

The Lycaenid is one of the three I asked you to post. I had an idea, but I have not actually seen this in the wild. That ID was what I had suspected, but was not sure enough to say so.

The Orange Faun is the second of them. It is the spots that worry me, particularly the forewing spot in space 1b.

Harlequin is Paralaxita damajanti. (note difference in submarginal spots)
1st darkie is probably Allotinus horsfieldi (hindwing postdiscal spot 6 below spot 7.)
2nd is A. strigatus (Pied marginal spots; hindwing postdiscal spot 6(crescent between torn portions) midway between spot 5 & spot 7(torn off))
Chersonesia rahria is right (hindwing inner 2 bands narrower than outer one; no dark mark at tornus)
Faunis kirata , due credit to Aaron. (dark patch; broaden dark zigzag line.)
Faunis gracilis appeared right. (no other left, unusual.)
Tanaecia aruna. credit to Aaron. (probably ssp. subochrea rather than triratna.)
Simiskina pheretia, both sexes (Note differences in wingshape & torn portions.)
Terinos terpander terpander is right. ( rounded wing contour; defined ocelli; prominent midcostal spot (not always white.)
It seems the Malayan race is unique in having the 2 white spots.
Curetis santana (thankfully C. bulis is absent from Borneo.)
Manto hypoleuca is correct. Credit to Aaron.

TL Seow:cheers:

Thanks very much, everyone, for the feedback and identifications.

Aaron, it would be nice to see the little Streaked Blue Brilliant (Simiskina pheretia) in life. I wonder if they are a canopy butterfly? I saw Lc's recent photo of this one but did not recognize the wing as belonging to this species.

Thanks again, Seow, for your continuous help with these butterflies ... I am almost finished with Malaysian species for the year. I've only seen the peninsular T. terpander before and did not realize that only those had the white spots on the lower, uppersurface.

Regards,

The Faunis gracilis is very unusual. I have not seen any with such markings before.

As far as I am aware, there are no subspecies of the species. If this form was accounted again on Borneo, we may need to think again about that!

Xanthotaenia busiris? I have seen a number of butterflies of this species but never have I encountered one that acted like this. This butterfly would always land with wings open beneath a leaf. It did this repeatedly. All of the the others that I have seen landed as in the second photo below which was taken at Permai Beach Resort in Sarawak. The spotting on the outer wings also looks strange and is different to the Permai butterfly.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...satyrinae1.jpg

"Normal" behaviour and appearance of a Xanthotaenia busiris from Permai:
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...satyrinaea.jpg


This moth was really quite stricking. I found it while on a night walk and relocated it later when it was feeding from a cauliforous fig.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...1000b/moth.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...0b/fig_500.jpghttp://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3.../moth2_500.jpg


I thought both of these moths were beautiful.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3.../moth3_500.jpghttp://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3.../moth4_500.jpg


Here are a few of the moths that flew to the light of our chalet:
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...b/collage2.jpg

Ted's photo of a pill millipede. These were common on the forest trails.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...Millipedea.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...Millipede2.jpg


Freshwater Crab and a couple of barb-like fish
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...1000b/crab.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...b/fish_500.jpghttp://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3.../fish1_500.jpg


This spiny phasmid was huge and was found at night while we were searching for reptiles.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...b/phasmid6.jpg

Other phasmids:
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3.../collage14.jpg


Nepenthis were abundant in areas within the park. This species, according to our friend Hans, is not a carnivore but digests fallen leaves.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...collage3-1.jpg

Thanks for posting the last of the 3 I was concerned about, i.e. the Xanthotania busiris look-alike.

The forewing underside certainly suggests that species, however, the hindwing underside is so different from those I so regularly come across that I find it difficult to believe that it coud be the Bornean ssp. X. b. burra.

I'll come back tomorrow with the moths, there are some I recognise.

The female Amnosia decora has a yellow band and is a X. busiris double.
( Band can be yellow, white or pale blue in the female.)

TL Seow:cheers:

Thanks, Les and Seow.

Here is a collage of the Amnosia decora from Poring (2,3,4) and the one from Kubah (1). The Poring butterfly had the pale blue wing band. Also, the undersurface was not as richly coloured as the female from Kubah.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...0b/unknown.jpg


Regards,

Sorry, but there are only 3 of the moths I recognise.

The first two show a male Eudocima dividens (Catocalinae).
The fourth, with the green 'windows' is a male Carriola ecnomoda (Lymantiinae).
The last moth is Plutodes cyclaria (Geometridae - Ennominae).

I didn't check earlier, but surprisingly the Myanmese/Northern Thai ssp. of Drupadia ravindra also have an orange band. So ID is confirmed.
https://species.wikimedia.org/wiki/D...dra_boisduvali

TL Seow:cheers:

That is interesting. Thanks, Seow.

Thanks for the moth ids, Les. I found a flickr site that has a large number of Malaysian moths. It may help with at least the genus of some of the unknowns. Have you seen this link?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/botalex...7607538370690/

Regards,

Could the Laxita teneta be merely the Bornean race of Taxila haquinus?
Although this is a female, i realised the male is actually very different from the one figured by d' abrera. :confused:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by atronox

Could the Laxita teneta be merely the Bornean race of Taxila haquinus?
Although this is a female, i realised the male is actually very different from the one figured by d' abrera. :confused:

---

Good work, Aaron.
I didn't realised T. haquinus in Borneo have an orange patch.
Here is L. teneta. The underside pattern is quite different.(top 2)
http://www.archive.org/stream/illust.../n151/mode/1up

TL Seow:cheers:

Thanks, guys, for the information.

Regards,

Wow.. many great butts you got there. Great shoots too. :thumbsup:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by moloch

I saw a few butteflies near the falls. Some of these responded to shrimp paste bait including these Blue Helens (Papilio prexaspes).
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...allowtail4.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...llowtail3c.jpg

---

This is quite puzzling. Papilio prexaspes is not recorded from Borneo(as far as i know). The only other species this could be is P. fuscus dayacus which lacks the orange lunules on the dorsal hindwing. Or it could be a local form of fuscus especially since this species is very variable throughout its wide range; prexaspes was once a ssp of fuscus as well.

Papilio prexaspes once treated as a ssp. of P. fuscus was elevated to a full species because its genitalia differs from that of P. fuscus.
Papilio prexaspes : range Andamans to Neomalaya (Sumatra, Malaya & Borneo )
Papilio fuscus : range Sulawesi to PNG/Australia.
ie. P. fuscus no longer exist in Borneo.
See C&P4 page 69.

The Borrnean taxon dayacus becomes a ssp of P. prexaspes.
This Sarawak form may qualifies as another ssp.

TL Seow: Cheers.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Psyche

Papilio prexaspes once treated as a ssp. of P. fuscus was elevated to a full species because its genitalia differs from that of P. fuscus.
Papilio prexaspes : range Andamans to Neomalaya (Sumatra, Malaya & Borneo )
Papilio fuscus : range Sulawesi to PNG/Australia.
ie. P. fuscus no longer exist in Borneo.
See C&P4 page 69.

The Borrnean taxon dayacus becomes a ssp of P. prexaspes.
This Sarawak form may qualifies as another ssp.

TL Seow: Cheers.

---

Thx for the clarification, Dr Seow.

Thanks for sharing, David
Getting a shot of an endemic species is worth the trip and deserves a lot of celebrations :gbounce::redbounce:jumjoy: