Went to WWNE this morning and decided to have lunch before proceeding. This surprise package decided to pay that food centre a visit and perched itself on one of the trees outside.
Idea leuconoe chersonesia (Mangrove Tree Nymph)
Richard
Power Member
Mangrove Tree Nymph
Went to WWNE this morning and decided to have lunch before proceeding. This surprise package decided to pay that food centre a visit and perched itself on one of the trees outside.
Idea leuconoe chersonesia (Mangrove Tree Nymph)
Richard
Congratulation Richard!
On the main island or Pulau Ubin?
Oh!! WWNE = Wild Wild North East ( Area North/North East of Yishun Town)
Administrator
Oh dear... an escapee Taiwanese Tree Nymph from the Zoo!
Power Member
Zoo and NE...??? Quite a strong flyer huh?
Chee Ming, Sum
Power Member
I have doubted that as this is taken at Punggol very close to where the Silverlines are. Lining the Punggol River is an area where you can find Mangrove.Originally Posted by Commander
Oh dear... an escapee Taiwanese Tree Nymph from the Zoo!
Richard
Administrator
Yup, you haven't seen the Tree Nymphs fly before? Their large wing area is ideal for riding the air currents with minimal efforts.
In any case, the Danainae are long-distance flyers, examples are the Monarch and the Crows in Taiwan.
If Richard is right , we should find more of them around same locality....and we need to establish whether it is the Taiwanese variety.
Administrator
That is a quite a possibility, and the specimen that you shot has markings somewhere in between subspecies clara and subspecies chersonesia. I really wonder if the two can interbreed?
The Taiwanese subspecies which is a popular species in butterfly farms and parks have their hindwing markings isolated from each other. But these markings are rather variable in size. From my own observations of specimens taken on Tekong and also C&P4, the black submarginal 'spots' on the hindwing are conjoined to almost form a black band across the wings.
The hindwing cell spot, as well as the two spots in space 7 of the hindwing are also much larger in subspecies chersonesia than in clara.
The Mangrove Tree Nymph has been reported in the Ketam Quarry area on Pulau Ubin, so it may just be the route between Ubin and Punggol that it came from, like where the Tawny Coster first appeared. Also, given the season of north-easterly winds, the flight from Ubin/Tekong to the northern coast of Singapore island would be aided by these winds.
So, keep a further lookout for this species! They can survive longer than 6 weeks and is not usually a target for predators.
Sunny, go stake out the area!
Power Member
BTW this shot is heavily cropped and taken with 300mm on the 40D.
Richard
Administrator
Doesn't matter, Richard. It's definitely much better than someone just reporting that they "saw one". You have photographic evidence of this bugger!
Can those of you who have shot the subspecies clara please post your shots here for comparison. After checking C&P4, Fleming and Pisuth's books, what Richard shot seems more like subspecies siamensis in Pisuth's book!
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