Checklist of Butterflies of Pulau Semakau

[Commander]

Posting the checklist after 3 outings by ButterflyCircle members at Pulau Semakau. Please make sure that you have some evidence of what you've named in the list -even if it's a heavily cropped and not photographically-perfect shot... ;P

Checklist of Butterflies Observed at Pulau Semakau





Common Mormon (Papilio polytes romulus)
Common Grass Yellow (Eurema hecabe contubernalis)
Three Spot Grass Yellow (Eurema blanda snelleni)
Striped Albatross (Appias libythea olferna)
Common Tiger (Danaus genutia genutia)
Black Veined Tiger (Danaus melanippus hegesippus)
Blue Glassy Tiger (Ideopsis vulgaris macrina)
Striped Blue Crow (Euploea mulciber mulciber)
Tawny Coster (Acraea violae)
Baron (Euthalia aconthea gurda)
Leopard (Phalanta phalantha phalantha)
Perak Lascar (Pantoporia paraka paraka)
Autumn Leaf (Doleschallia bisaltide bisaltide)
Great Eggfly (Hypolimnas bolina bolina)
Blue Pansy (Junonia orithya wallacei)
Blue Nawab (Polyura schreiber tisamenus)
Common Palmfly (Elymnias hypermestra agina)
Silver Forget-Me-Not (Catochrysops panormus exiguus)
Ciliate Blue (Anthene emolus goberus)
Centaur Oakblue (Arhopala centaurus nakula)
Common Tit (Hypolycaena erylus teatus)
(Hypolycaena thecloides thecloides)
Long Banded Silverline (Spindasis lohita senama)
Two Spotted Line Blue (Nacaduba biocellata)
Tailless Line Blue (Prosotas dubiosa lumpura)
Lesser Grass Blue (Zizina otis lampa)
Common Awl (Hasora badra badra)
Common Palm Dart (Telicota colon stinga)
Yellow Palm Dart (Cephrenes trichopepla)
Palm Bob (Suastus gremius gremius)
Chestnut Bob (Iambrix salsala salsala)
Lesser Dart (Potanthus omaha omaha)
Large Dart(Potanthus serina)
Banded Demon (Notocrypta paralysos varians)

[Commander]

After today's outing (28 Feb 09), we've added 4 more species to the Semakau Checklist, making it 31 species altogether so far! :gbounce:

The 4 new additions are :

Baron (Euthalia aconthea gurda) - shot by Federick during on of the previous outings. Today, two females were spotted again.
Blue Nawab (Polyura schreiber tisamenus) - A fast one flew right in front of Mark and me, just to tease us. But it didn't stop long enough for a shot. ;P
Three Spot Grass Yellow (Eurema blanda snelleni) - voucher specimen captured
Lesser Dart (Potanthus omaha omaha) - voucher specimen captured

[Commander]

Just an update to the checklist. Thus far, some voucher specimens and also the establishment of the early stages of one Hesperiidae species has pointed to the fact that we may be dealing with an Indo-Australian skipper - Cephrenes trichopepla. Further investigations are ongoing.

Also, another nature expert has managed to photograph two specimens of a male Archduke (Lexias pardalis dirteana) in the forested backmangrove areas. That will be species #32 in the checklist

:)

[Archduke]

yay the mormon isnt in the list!
+1 to Semakau!

[Great Mormon]

ah, chestnut bob also... :P

[Commander]

Okie. Each of the twin discovered a new species for Semakau, bringing the list to 33 species. :)

[Wanderer]

is this list going to expand with the confirmed ID of skipper? or has it been included already?

[Commander]

I'll close the loop on this and add the Aussie species as the info on the early stages gives us a fair confidence of the ID of the species. So it's still 33 species with a slight amendment to the skipper.

Thanks to all who participated in the surveys. :cheers:

Checklist of Butterflies Observed at Pulau Semakau


Common Mormon (Papilio polytes romulus)
Common Grass Yellow (Eurema hecabe contubernalis)
Three Spot Grass Yellow (Eurema blanda snelleni)
Striped Albatross (Appias libythea olferna)
Common Tiger (Danaus genutia genutia)
Black Veined Tiger (Danaus melanippus hegesippus)
Blue Glassy Tiger (Ideopsis vulgaris macrina)
Striped Blue Crow (Euploea mulciber mulciber)
Tawny Coster (Acraea violae)
Baron (Euthalia aconthea gurda)
Leopard (Phalanta phalantha phalantha)
Perak Lascar (Pantoporia paraka paraka)
Autumn Leaf (Doleschallia bisaltide bisaltide)
Great Eggfly (Hypolimnas bolina bolina)
Blue Pansy (Junonia orithya wallacei)
Blue Nawab (Polyura schreiber tisamenus)
Common Palmfly (Elymnias hypermestra agina)
Silver Forget-Me-Not (Catochrysops panormus exiguus)
Ciliate Blue (Anthene emolus goberus)
Centaur Oakblue (Arhopala centaurus nakula)
Common Tit (Hypolycaena erylus teatus)
(Hypolycaena thecloides thecloides)
Long Banded Silverline (Spindasis lohita senama)
Two Spotted Line Blue (Nacaduba biocellata)
Tailless Line Blue (Prosotas dubiosa lumpura)
Lesser Grass Blue (Zizina otis lampa)
Common Awl (Hasora badra badra)
Yellow Palm Dart (Cephrenes trichopepla)
Palm Bob (Suastus gremius gremius)
Chestnut Bob (Iambrix salsala salsala)
Lesser Dart (Potanthus omaha omaha)
(Potanthus serina)
Banded Demon (Notocrypta paralysos varians)

[Sky Blue]

In the Semakau book, photo 7 at page 45 (see below), should be a Telicota sp instead of Potanthus serina, with the present of stigma, and most likely a T. colon

Photo by Mark
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh146/log1t3ch/DSC_2295.jpg

[Commander]

Thanks for pointing out. I believe Marcus took the submissions from the members here as they have named them. We have specimens of Potanthus serina but the photo that Mark shot didn't match.

The common name of Cephrenes trichopepla is also wrong in the book.

Is T. colon the only species with a stigma in the male? From the other species in various books, we may also stumble upon other Telicota here.

[Sky Blue]

If I remember correctly, only male of Telicota sp. have stigma on forewing, and from the position & size of the stigma (see my earlier ID thread on T. colon), can ID the different species of Telicota sp. lor...

hmm, where is yr C&P4 :D

[Commander]

If I remember correctly, only male of Telicota sp. have stigma on forewing, and from the position & size of the stigma (see my earlier ID thread on T. colon), can ID the different species of Telicota sp. lor...

hmm, where is yr C&P4 :D

Actually, it's precisely that I'm referring to C&P4 and the Thai book that has now cast some doubt regarding the stigma of the males of Telicota, because they all look confusingly similar.

Reading page 383 of C&P4, under T. augias, somewhere in the end of the first paragraph "The male has a bluish grey oblique stigma from the middle of vein 1b to vein 4 on the forewing above". This is also similar to the extent of the stigma in T. colon in the figure that also shows the stigma from vein 1b to vein 4.

Also, looking at the photos in Pisuth's book, the males of T. besta also shows a stigma on the forewing. See Plate 382 Figure H275. And also the males of T. hilda, T. ohara, T. bambusae show the stigma on the forewings too.

Having found Cephrenes trichopepla here, there is also a possibility of the other Telicota spp that may appear here.

[Sky Blue]

http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh146/log1t3ch/DSC_2295.jpg

Yes, all male of Telicota have stigma

In Mark's photo, you can actually see the yellow veins extended at marginal border (and the OOF FW tip), those are important key for T. colon. Pisuth: ...veins edged with yellow at marginal border, which extended from the band...

Refer to the small HK book, their illustration & explaination on the stigma is clearer.

[Silverstreak]

Can some kind soul use a picture to point out what this "stigma" is all about .......I am quite blur and believe a few others too.......;P

[Commander]

Here goes... it's a sort of 'brand' or secondary sexual characteristic found only in the males of several Telicota spp. The other characteristic of T. colon in this case, is the extension of the yellow/orange colour along the veins of the forewings, reaching the marginal border. This feature does not occur in T. besta and T. augias.

Used as an example is a shot of T. colon which will be featured in an upcoming blog article this weekend.

[butterfly_effect]

is the stigma just a patch of different colour scales or is it something more than that eg the brand on the wings of male flashes. If its just a patch of different coloured scales, then how does one tell the difference between a marking and a brand? Please share... Anyone who knows:)

[horace2264]

Page 9 of C&P4 has a section on "Male Secondary Sexual Characters" for butterflies, and in this section, item (b) reads:

Brands or stigmata, comprising raised patches of streaks of specialised scales on the upperside of the forewing and hindwing, and, more rarely, on the dorsal area of the forewing beneath, or even on the abdomen. Overlying the brand may be an erectile hair tuft which can be opened fan-wise to act as a scent distributor.

[Commander]

Horace, your C&P4 must be really well-used! Not many people take the trouble to read it from cover to cover. (I haven't even yet read enough of it myself!) You must've covered quite a lot of the book already! :cheers:

[horace2264]

thanks horace for sharing even though it was already explained in c&p4. I really appreciate it :)
No problem at all. :)


Horace, your C&P4 must be really well-used! Not many people take the trouble to read it from cover to cover. (I haven't even yet read enough of it myself!) You must've covered quite a lot of the book already! :cheers:
I have more reasons to flip C&P4 frequently due to the need to research for BC blog articles on the life history of various species.
Still, I have not managed to complete it from cover to cover.

[Silverstreak]

Thanks !:)

A picture worth a thousand words!:grin2:

cheers!

[Commander]

All irrelevant OT (Off Topic) posts deleted.