+2 more today!

[Common Rose]

Can't help myself but went down to AH again in the afternoon. Thot it was going to be a bad day as the water sprinklers were actively spraying water.
However, came back with two new additions!

1. Common Mime Not a good one; overcooked, and the wings were blur.




2. Male and Female Horaga syrinx maenala doing it. :kiss: They were performing a lot of patterns! Big one female?





An unofficial shot. This fellow landed on my hand, finger, .... Seems like another new species to me, but ... So close yet so far... Well, next time ...

[Sky Blue]

wah... u super fast man!
never see the Horaga syrinx maenala before, look very interesting.

[Common Rose]

wah... u super fast man!
never see the Horaga syrinx maenala before, look very interesting.

Thanks! When I saw the Common Mime flying some dist away, somehow I knew that it was 'new'.

As for the pair of Horaga syrinx maenala, just happened to spot them near the walkway from the bus-stop. Pple are walking to and fro, and after five shots (which were not nice!), they flew away. I tried to find them, but to no success. So I crossed over to the other side of the walkway. Spotted a sailor, and then after some time, found these pair of Horaga syrinx maenala again! Before I could took any shots, they flew back to the other side! So I followed them again, this time managed another five shots from the walkway. You can see the bridge in the background. Don't know why, they kept turning and change patterns: straight-line, sharp V-shape, L-shape, parallel to each other, hanging on edge of leaf with body perpendicular to the horizontal, ... etc.

[Cruiser]

Mating Horaga must be rare, lucy you However, it looks more like a Horoga Onyx sardonyx (C&P4, Plate 45, pic. 20?) than the syrinx, do you have pic of the top side?

Any thought, Gan/Khew on the ID of the Horaga?

[Common Rose]

I have not got the bible yet... I'll let u guys do the

[Cruiser]

The C&P4 is available for loan at Toa Pay Lib, just FYI.

[Common Rose]

All the while, their wings were closed.

There is only Horaga syrinx maenala on the Singapore Butterfly Checklist.

the white spot looks somewhat bigger than the specimen provided by Khew...

[Commander]

All the while, their wings were closed.

There is only Horaga syrinx maenala on the Singapore Butterfly Checklist.

the white spot looks somewhat bigger than the specimen provided by Khew...

Dunno. Not unless I get one specimen and check out the uppersides. The mystery of the 2nd Horaga remains. I've shot a specimen with a larger white spot before, and so did Ben Jin. Haven't concluded that it's the other Horaga before, and with such photos, it's still not certain. Interestingly, note that the male (probably the one on the right) does not even have any white on the hindwings. That's the first time I've seen one completely without any whites.

[Common Rose]

Check this page: http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~EY4Y-TKN...il/Horaga.html

[Commander]

Check this page: http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~EY4Y-TKN...il/Horaga.html

Thanks. But unfortunately, cannot compare with non-Malaysian/Singaporean subspecies. The endemic subspecies often have very unique differentces which makes a positive ID unreliable.

One of these days, we will go to the Sentosa Butterfly Park, and we can take a look at the display of specimens in their collection. You will note that the variations in subspecies often make the species look almost like a totally different species! E.g. if you've seen the Black Veined Tiger (Danaus melanippus) from Kota Kinabalu, you'd think it's something else! It looks like our local species, but all the orange is absent, and the butterfly is black and white.

Even in Malaysia, the endemic species of the islands like Tioman, Perhentian, Aur, Besar, Pangkor and so on, often have their local subspecies which look different from the mainland species.