Butterfly photos from Fraser's Hill, July 2011

[bluefin]

Concur with the rest that the shot of the Constable is .

[moloch]

Well, I am back in a chilly Wollongong after several weeks in Malaysia. I am going through withdrawals already. It will be another two or three months before it is warm enough for a variety of butterflies to be active near my home. Malaysia is such a great place for butterflies with so many species and so many butterflies.


Thanks very much, Seow, for the identifications.

Thanks all for the comments. The Constable was a beauty. As Seow indicated, it looked quite dark in the forest but the flash brought out its lovely colours.

[moloch]

I saw Tawny Rajahs (Charaxes bernardus) at both locations below the Gap.




Small Leopards (Phalanta alcippe) were seen a few times at the falls 4 km below the Gap.



Paduca fasciata: These were fairly common at the first falls below the Gap.



Stibochion anicea: I saw this species twice at the first falls below the Gap.




Euthalia eriphylae (thanks, Seow and Khew). This baron was puddling right at the base of the falls 4 km from the Gap.

[Commander]

Nice collection of a good variety of species. You must've hit a really good patch of diversity in Fraser's Hill. And also had good weather to boot!

The flash on the Constable appears to have gone a bit over. Those that I shot on my FH trip a couple of years back were much darker.

The last one looks like a female E. aconthea but the spots appear to be quite diffused.

[Psyche]

The last Baron is interesting. It looks like it should be the female of E. eriphylae.
The hindwing lacks the black dots, & the forewing submarginal fascia is dislocated in space 2.

TL Seow

[Silverstreak]

David ,

That is a bountiful harvest from Fraser's Hill!!!

I must say you have really mastered the T180!!

[Commander]

The last Baron is interesting. It looks like it should be the female of E. eriphylae.
The hindwing lacks the black dots, & the forewing submarginal fascia is dislocated in space 2.

I'll defer to your ID on this one, Seow, as I didn't have my C&P4 with me. I recall that Fleming classified E. eriphylae as "Rare", so David's got a rarity here.

[Psyche]

I'll defer to your ID on this one, Seow, as I didn't have my C&P4 with me. I recall that Fleming classified E. eriphylae as "Rare", so David's got a rarity here.

I am not certain of the ID since C&P4's description and the Yutaka website both shows eriphylae's upper spots should be large.

TL Seow

[Commander]

I am not certain of the ID since C&P4's description and the Yutaka website both shows eriphylae's upper spots should be large.

Thanks, Seow. From my own observations over the years, the spots on the females of the Euthalia appear to be very variable. In particular, I've had the chance of examining the females of the more common E. aconthea which showed a range of variability that could even suggest another species or cause a misidentification!

Read my recent blog article here -> http://butterflycircle.blogspot.com/...bility-of.html

So I wonder if this variability also extends to other species in the genus. If so, then there's a high possibility that you're right with the ID, especially submarginal fascia's dislocation at space 2, which appears to be a more distinctive (and consistent) feature than the spots.

[Psyche]

Thanks for your bloglink, Khew. I was looking for valid pics of E. aconthea gurda to compare.

Your pics. show the black submarginal dots are & a couple of subapical/costal white spots are quite consistent.

From these and the other clue, I am fairly confident of the ID.

TL Seow