Butterfly photos from Taman Negara, June 2011

[moloch]

Great Mormon (Papilio memnon)




Common Mormon (Papilio polytes)






LYCAENIDAE

Common Pierrot (Castalius rosimon): fairly common.





Straight Pierrot (Caleta roxus): fairly common.




Blue Pierrot (Discolampa ethion): Only seen once near the abandoned Orang Asli settlement.




Long-banded Silverline (Spindasis lohita): I found a colony of these at a lantana thicket on the grounds of the resort.




Fluffy Tit (Zeltusa masa): only seen a few times.

[moloch]

This was my first Scarce Silverstreak (Irata rochana). I found it early one morning on the grass lawn of the resort. Even though the temp was 28C, it seemed to be "too cold" to fly. I used a twig to move it to a shrub and it then warmed itself for awhile before flying away.





Common Tit (Hypolycaena erylus): mostly seen near the abandoned Orang Asli settlement.





Una usta: Only found this species once at Lata Berkoh.



Tongei potanni: I saw one or two of these at both lookouts of Bukit Teresik.




Common Imperial (Cheritra freja): near the Orang Asli settlement.

[moloch]

Cycad Blue (Chilades pandava): common in disturbed areas near Mutiara Resort.





Prosotas dubosa (thanks, Seow):



Petrelaea dana. (thanks, Seow)



Prosotas nora. (thanks, Seow)




Ciliate Blue (Anthene emolus)




Hedge Blue (Acytolepis puspa)

[moloch]

Surendra florimel




Common Posy (Drupadia ravindra):





HERPERIIDAE

Common Snow Flat (Tagiades japetus): Strange, but I only saw these two on the same afternoon and never again.




Tagiades ultra



Darpa pteria: This flat was seen a couple of times at the first lookout of Bukit Teresik.




Pithauria marsena

[moloch]

This was a large, red flat that I flushed along the Jenet Muda Trail while descending from the Bukit Teresik lookouts. It looked much like a Bronzed Flat here in Australia. Fulvous Dawnfly (Capila phanaeus)



Common Wight (Iton semamora)




Tree Flitter (Hyarotis adrastus)





Yellow Banded Awl (Hasora schoenherr): This lovely skipper was photographed along the Bukit Teresik trail one morning. It returned to the same spot over and over and pressed its abdomen against the bark of the tree.




That is it for my butterfly photos from Taman Negara. I have a few other shots that I will still add and then the bird checklist.


These were really strange, tiny moths that lived on rocks at Lubok Simpon. Their hind wings appeared to be ornamental and not functional for flight. They could hover and I initially thought that they were some sort of bee. Any ideas?

[atronox]

The last moth could be a Melittia sp.

[Psyche]

The 3 Lycaenids starting with the unknown are:
1 Prosotas dubosa.
2 Petrelaea dana.
3 Prosotas nora.

Anthene emolus is correct.

Great nailing the Surendra & Hyarotis.

The Snow Flat is Tagiades ultra. I used to confuse it with T. cohaerens because the key is rather confusing for T. ultra.
Note the marginal spots (from the inner margin outwards are on vein 1b, 2, 3& 4 ) are rarely conjoined.
Forewing without a spot in space 3. (The 5 outer spots are (counting upwards) in space 4, 5, 6, 7, & 8. )
( T. cohaerens have the extra black spot in the white space.)

TL Seow

[moloch]

The last moth could be a Melittia sp.

Thanks, Aaron. Looks possible. It does look like it would be a member of Sesiidae.



Thanks for all your help, Seow. It was much appreciated.

Great nailing the Surendra & Hyarotis.

I have Les to thank for those identifications.

[WillFolsom]

David:

Nature smiled and you responded beautifully. What inspirational work. Glad you got the T180 down pat! William

[moloch]

Thanks very much, William. Taman Negara is a wonderful national park and well worth a visit.

... oops, missed a couple of skippers that I wanted to post.

Koruthaialos rubercula




Here are two species of colourful day-flying moths. These would also puddle at Lubok Simpon but usually they only did this early in the morning.




I found this nice moth while I was on a night walk.



Here are a few miscellaneous shots.

I think that the following were the most abundant animals in the forests after a rain. They were everywhere. These leeches seemed to like to dine socially. Clusters of them all seemed to be interested in crowding around a bite.



The combined anticoagulants resulted in quite a mess. My socks were usually dripping with blood at the end of the day. At least the bites do not itch like Aussie leeches.



I picked up small ticks a few times. This one, however, was enormus. I am glad that I was not bitten by it!