Crow Butterfly

[MastaHanky]

Hi,

I have what I believe to be some relative of the Crow Butterfly. Just wondering if this looked familiar to anybody and if they could provide a more definitive idea of what it may be. I found a bunch of pictures online, but unfortunately they show the underside of the wings, which doesn't help me much.

http://www.moosefree.com/LJ/DSCN3149%20(Medium).JPG

[Commander]

Hi there,

Welcome to BPals and your first post. We must clarify that this is more of a butterfly conservation group, mainly using environmentally-friendly means like photography to depict butterflies in their natural environment. Hence we usually don't encourage pictures of dead specimens here, except in special cases.

As you're a 'newbie' we'll try to help you out with the ID of the specimen that you've shown. :-)

It would help if you are able to let us know the location where this specimen was collected. Do you capture it yourself, or you were given this specimen? Whilst it appears to be one of the Euploea species, it may not be a species or subspecies that we have in Singapore or Malaysia. So perhaps you may want let us have that information first.

As the typical characteristics of the Euploea spp. go, the straight termen of the forewing of the butterfly shown indicates that it is a female of the species.

[MastaHanky]

Hi there,

Welcome to BPals and your first post. We must clarify that this is more of a butterfly conservation group, mainly using environmentally-friendly means like photography to depict butterflies in their natural environment. Hence we usually don't encourage pictures of dead specimens here, except in special cases.

It would help if you are able to let us know the location where this specimen was collected. Do you capture it yourself, or you were given this specimen? Whilst it appears to be one of the Euploea species, it may not be a species or subspecies that we have in Singapore or Malaysia. So perhaps you may want let us have that information first.

As the typical characteristics of the Euploea spp. go, the straight termen of the forewing of the butterfly shown indicates that it is a female of the species.

Well, hopefully this will be a special case.

When I was about 8, maybe 10 years old, I was fascinated with butterflies. I wouldn't catch them, but I enjoyed spotting them in the wild. I even had the checklist of local varieties to try to find.

For one of my birthdays, my aunt arranged a visit with an entomology professor at the local university. He showed me numerous specimens from the university's collection, and, as a birthday present, gave me four non-local butterflies to keep.

Fast forward nearly 20 years later...I found that I still had these four butterflies, and thought I'd try to figure out what they were.

The first one I was easily able to identify as a Trogonoptera Brookiana, which are fairly popular from what I've been able to determine. I guess they're mainly found in Malaysia(?)

The second one was a Battus Madyes, which I figured out after discovering a page listing hundreds of different swallowtails with pictures. I gathered that they are found in Argentina.

That leaves two left for me to figure out, one of which is the one I posted. I noticed some similarities between it and a few butterflies on that "Butterflies of Singapore" page, so I thought I'd give it a shot here.

(The fourth one I am completely stumped on...it's a sulphur of some sort, but I haven't found anything that remotely resembles it anywhere!)

Anyway, that's my story. The four butterflies came with a tiny note with illegible handwriting, and based on the first two I was able to identify, there isn't a pattern as to where they are from. That doesn't make my search any easier. :)

I have to admit, finding this page has given me an itch to get back into butterfly spotting....especially if I can get myself a decent camera! Maybe it's time to invest in a nice Nikon...

[Commander]

Hello there! :cheers: How do we address you?

This definitely is a special case. Other posts who uploaded pictures of dead specimens or asked to buy/exchange specimens had their posts deleted immediately.

Thanks for clarifying. I am quite amazed that you could keep the specimens for so many years without significant deterioration. Yes, Trogonoptera brookiana also known as the Rajah Brooke's Birdwing, is a magnificent butterfly found in Malaysia and other SouthEast Asian countries. There are a number of endemic subspecies, but if you leave it at the species level in naming them, you are not wrong.

I'll see if I can help nail down a closer ID from my books on butterflies in the region. It may not a species that exists in Malaysia or Singapore, but perhaps some similar characteristics may give me a clue. Could you also post the underside of your specimen?

Glad that we've awakened your long childhood hobby. It is a good idea to get a nice camera, and go out there and shoot them! We would also like to see some nice butterflies from your side of the world. It is summer now, isn't it? There should be lots of them butts flying out there! :jumjoy: