Jacintha Eggfly ?

[Peacock Royal]

My friend brought me to a birding site at Jurong yesterday morning. The whole morning was a bit cloudy and cool. We did not see any puddling butts though he saw a few during his last two visits there.

Spotted some common speices and at least two "Steven Wee" gliding gracefully at the canopy level when two of us (we would not have gone in if alone ) decided to venture into the thick vegetation along a narrow footpath. Met some unusual people, :sweat: , who came in there to look for fruits, I guess.

Not many shots taken. Just pose these two shots to confirm the id as it was my first encounter in the wild. Pity that the specimen was rather tattered .

[Commander]

The markings of the butt suggest a female Great Eggfly (subsp. jacintha).

This subspecies is very variable, like subsp. bolina and there could be forms as well, but this has not been thoroughly researched or documented in detail as far as I know.

[Common Rose]

was just studying the C&P4, and about to answer, when the master beat me to it. :bsmile:

[Peacock Royal]

The markings of the butt suggest a female Great Eggfly (subsp. jacintha).
This subspecies is very variable, like subsp. bolina and there could be forms as well, but this has not been thoroughly researched or documented in detail as far as I know.
Thanks Khew.
May be because it is not so common after all ?
If I remember correctly, I first saw it in our Sentosa BP when I tested the D100 there.

[Commander]

was just studying the C&P4, and about to answer, when the master beat me to it. :bsmile:
Heh... quick hand, quick leg, har? :bsmile:

[Commander]

Thanks Khew.
May be because it is not so common after all ?
Not as common as it should be, probably due to the very high degree of parasitism of its early stages. When in a controlled environment, the cats breed very prolifically. A typical clutch of eggs that a female would lay, would be in the 30's to 50's. Hence if the cats are not parasited, you could end up with a whole bunch of pupae at the end of the breeding stage. I tried before, and ended up with about 20 pupae. Fortunately though, the host plant, Asystasia gangetica is a common "weed".

The males look very much like subsp. bolina, and from my earlier breeding observations, the markings on the underside hindwing margins seem to separate the two subspecies quite reliably. Females look very different from the subsp. bolina and have their wing colour varying from very blue to brown. None of those that I've bred have the orange and white markings that are quite consistently found on the subsp. bolina females.

[Common Rose]

Heh... quick hand, quick leg, har? :bsmile:
must memorise the features of the diff species (like those maths formulae) until i don't have to refer to any reference. :bsmile:

[Commander]

Hijack Federick's thread. ;P Here's a shot of one a pristine female subsp. jacintha that I shot some two years back. Just hatched female, and the wing markings are quite distinct.

[Peacock Royal]

Comparing C&P, your shot and my shot, the colours on the upperside and the blue markings look varied. Interesting species.
Good reference for us. Thanks