Some KL Butterflies

[Peacock Royal]

I must thank Yong San for taking his time off bringing me to FRIM (Forest Research Institute Malaysia) during my short free-and-easy holiday in Kulua Lumpur (KL) with my family.

Occupying a huge area of 600 hectares in Kepong, about 16 km north-west of KL, this tropical forest contains a wealth of flora and fauna species. However, due to the overcast weather, I could only spot and get very few shots (other fauna species will be shown in my blog later)

Here are some record shots with minimal PS post-processing.

1. Coon (Psolos fuligo fuligo ) - quite abundant and very sensitive to camera flash light.


2. Narrow banded Velvet (Koruthaialos rubecula rubecula). Should be : Bright Red Velvet Bob (Koruthaialos sindu sindu)


3. Faunis kirata – very skittish guy and it was found at the water-fall ground.


4. Dark Blue Jungle Glory (Thaumantis klugius lucipor) – at the water-fall.


Next day, I went to the KL Butterfly Park on my own, the weather again was cloudy and the place was full of tourists. Met one butterfly photographer from India who uses a Sigma lens (sorry can’t remember his name – hope he becomes a member here) came two days in a row.

The entrance fees for foreigner is (18 + 1 = 19) ringgit . I had only about 2.5 hours there as I had to meet up with two ladies in my family at KLCC for lunch.

Ok, here are most of my record shots.

5. Great Helen (Papilio iswara iswara ) ? – the shape of the tails puzzles me. Correction : should be Red Helen (Papilio helenus helenus).


6. A Notocrypta species – which one ? Quite surprise to see a skipper in the enclosure.


7. Great Mormon (Papilio memnon agenor ) – quite a number of them.


8. Malayan Birdwing (Troides amphrysus ruficollis) correction : it should be The Mountain Birdwing (Troides cuneifera peninsulae) - now I notice that the 2nd or 3rd segment of the thorax reddened.

[Peacock Royal]

9. Dark Blue Tiger (Tirumala septentrionis septentrionis)


10. Red Spot Sawtooth (Prioneris philonome themana)


11. Magpie Crow ( Euploea radamanthus radamanthus ) - quite a number of Crows in the cage.


12. Common Jester (Symbrenthia lilaea luciana)


13. Stibochiona nicea subucula


14. Black and White Helen (Papilio nephelus annulus)

[Peacock Royal]

15(a) Striped Blue Crow (Euploea mulciber mulciber)


15(b)


15(c)


16(a). Euploea eunice leucogonis ? - this is the closest I can match with.


16(b) Its blur uppersides – was trying very hard to get this shot in a shade.


17. Blue Begum (Prothoe franck uniformis) correction : should be Glorious Begum (Agatasa calydonia calydonia) - I don’t like to take shots on butterfly feeding on fruits in the enclosure but I could not resist taking this gorgeous species from a difficult angle. It disappeared completely when I “reset” it.


Of course there were many Raja Brook’s Birdwing – but getting a sharp and clear shot was too tough for me !.

[Commander]

The Red Helen's tail is broken/chipped off, that's why it looks strange. Can see someone's fingerprint on the left wing of the Dark Blue Tiger. Maybe CSI can ID him.

Yes, the Crow you ID'ed correctly is the Blue Branded King Crow.

Good collection of butts from FRIM too, I prefer those from the KL Butt Park.

The last shot is of a Glorious Begum (Agatasa calydonia calydonia) (not the Blue Begum). It's always a crowd stealer with its multi-coloured underside and large size.

[Peacock Royal]

Khew, thanks for the corrections.
There were a lot more species that I could not get any shot - good collection of butts at KL butterfly park.

[Psyche]

2 is the Bright Red Velvet Bob ( Koruthaialos sindu sindu). Its wider orange band reached the costal margin.

6 is the Banded Demon ( Notocrypta paralysos varians)

8 is Troides cuneifer peninsulae male. The underside forewing of T. amphrysus is fully striped and the thorax is all black underneath.
For a moment I was amazed, as I thought you shot it at FRIM. It is a highland species.

TL Seow

[Peacock Royal]

Many many thanks Mr Seow. I am really bad at iding Malaysia species.
Thanks for explaining how you arrived at the ids - we really learn a lot from you.

Sorry, I thought Banded Demon ( Notocrypta paralysos varians) has a submarginal white spot in space, say 4 (not very sure how to see the space on the photo) on the forewing ? My shot does not have that spot.

[Psyche]

Many many thanks Mr Seow. I am really bad at iding Malaysia species.
Thanks for explaining how you arrived at the ids - we really learn a lot from you.

Sorry, I thought Banded Demon ( Notocrypta paralysos varians) has a submarginal white spot in space, say 4 (not very sure how to see the space on the photo) on the forewing ? My shot does not have that spot.

Thank you for pointing it out, and please don't be apologetic.
I admit, I did not use the key, but merely saw that the band in N. clavata is rather narrow. Now, using the key, it still come down to either N. paralysos or N. clavata.

The key states
N. paralysos:band USUALLY NOT continued to costa, & USUALLY with a white dot at space 4.;forewing termen straight to vein 4 and then convex to apex.
N. clavata: band continued more or less full-width to costa;RARELY a white dot in space 4;forewing termen straight to vein 5 and then convex to apex.

From the picture:
Vein 3 runs from the notch itself. Vein 4 arises from the rounded corner of the big square spot.If you trace it outwards, you will see that the forewing termen starts to be convex upwards.The notch is also rather deeper than in N. clavata. Against it is the lack of white spot in space 4 and the fact that the band continued to the costa.

On balance, I still think it is N. paralysos,but I cannot be 100% certain.

TL Seow

[Silverstreak]

Nice variety of butterflies they have there in the Park.

I wasn't too keen to drop by during my stop-over at KL after Fraser's trip.When LC told me most of the BFs in the enclosure are species caught by Orang Asli from the wild and full of finger prints....... the species you have capture more or less confirmed this .

[Glorious Begum]

If they didn't tell you, max time allowed in there is 4 hours.