Life History of the Malay Viscount v2.0

Life History of the Malay Viscount (Tanaecia pelea pelea)
An earlier version of the life history of the Malay Viscount can be found by clicking this link.

Butterfly Biodata:
Genus: Tanaecia Butler, 1869
Species: pelea Fabricius, 1787
Subspecies: pelea Fabricius, 1787
Wingspan of Adult Butterfly: 50-70mm
Local Caterpillar Host Plants: Palaquium obovatum (Sapotaceae), Pouteria obovata (Sapotaceae), Adinandra dumosa (Theaceae, common name: Tiup-Tiup).

A male Malay Viscount puddling on wet ground.

A sunbathing Malay Viscount.

Physical Description of Adult Butterfly:

On the upperside, the wings are pale greyish ochreous brown with submarginal arrow-shaped markings. On the forewing, these markings are embedded in large, whitish spots. On the underside , the wings are paler brown with a faint trace of violet in a side light. The two sexes can be distinguished in the hindwing: the male has two submarginal rows of small distinct, black V-shaped markings, whilst those in the female are very obscure and conjoint.

A male Malay Viscount enjoying the ripened fruit of the Singapore Rhododendron.

Another sunbathing Malay Viscount.

Field Observations of Butterfly Behaviour:

The Malay Viscount is rather common in Singapore. They are mainly found in the nature reserves, but at times adults can be seen flying in other forested areas. Both sexes have the habit of resting on perches with wings open, and visiting flowers/ripened fruits on flowering/fruiting trees in their habitat. The male have been observed to puddle on damp ground and on fallen (and rotting) fruits. The adults are skittish and readily take flight when disturbed.

Early Stages:

Locally three host plants have been recorded for the Malay Viscount so far, two Palaquium species in Sapotaceae and one Adinandra species in Theaceae. Caterpilars of the Malay Viscount feed on the middle-aged to mature leaves of these host plants.

Local host plant #1 : Adinandra dumosa (Tiup-Tiup).

Local host plant #2 : Palaquium obovatum.

A mating pair of the Malay Viscount.

A mother Malay Viscount laying an egg at a leaf tip of the host plant.

The eggs are laid singly at the leaf edge of the host plant. Each egg is dome-shaped with a base diameter of about 2mm. The surface is covered with large hexagonal depressions with hair-like protuberances emerging from adjoining corners. When freshly laid, the surface is moist and in pale green. Within hours, the moisture evaporates and the color turns to lime green.

Two views of an egg of the Malay Viscount.

Two views of a maturing egg of the Malay Viscount, one day prior to hatching.

After about 5 days, the 1st instar caterpillar emerges and proceeds to eat the eggshell as its first meal. The caterpillar is yellowish green in body colour and has a pale yellowish brown head capsule adorned with two brownish lateral stripes. Its body sports ten pairs of long and "fleshy" dorso-lateral protuberances. Black setae emanate from the body below these long protuberances and from a series of short dorsal protuberances. The caterpillar grows from an initial length of about 3.8mm to 6mm in about 2 days in this instar before the moult to the next instar takes place.

A newly hatched 1st instar caterpillar in the midst of eating the egg shel.

Two views of a 1st instar caterpillar, late in this stage, length: 5.3mm.

Two views of a late 1st instar caterpillar, dormant prior to its moult, length: 5.5mm

The body of the 2nd instar caterpillar is predominantly yellowish green. All ten pairs of short protuberances seen in the 1st instar have lengthened considerably. Each is projected horizontally with numerous branched spines and is almost always pressed to the leaf surface. The protuberance is whitish to very pale yellowish in color with some spines colored black. On the dorsum, pairs of white patches appear between the 2nd to the 10th protuberances. As growth progresses in this instar, each pair of white patches become conjoined to appear as an eye-shaped patch. The 2nd instar lasts for 3 days with the body length reaching about 9.5-10mm before the moult to the 3rd instar. (Note: The length given here and for later instars is measured between the head and the posterior end of the last body segment, excluding the length of protuberances.)

An early 2nd instar caterpillar, length: 6mm.

Two views of a 2nd instar caterpillar, late in this stage, length: 9.5mm.

Two views of a late 2nd instar caterpillar, dormant prior to its moult, length: 9.2mm.

The 3rd instar caterpillar is greenish in body color. Tiny whitish spots appears on each bod segment. The protuberances are greenish and have all become much longer in proportion. The branched spines appear almost like a bird's feather, with the secondary spines arranged neatly around the main spine. Dorsally the series of eight white-oultined patches become more prominent, and toward the later part of this instar, the central portion of each patch darkened to a deep shade of purple. The 3rd instar lasts for about 5 days and reaches a length of about 16-17mm before the next moult. Towards the end of this instar, the body color gradually changes to jade green.

A newly moulted 3rd instar caterpillar.

Two views of a 3rd instar caterpillar, late in this stage, length: 17mm.

Two views of a late 3rd instar caterpillar, dormant prior to its moult, length: 15mm.

The 4th instar caterpillar has a similar appearance as in the 3rd instar. Horizontal spines on each long protuberance are mostly whitish while shorter vertical spines are black in color. The eight dorsal marks becomes more shield-like in appearance with the central portion taken up by a large purplish/pinkish patch. After about 8 days in this instar, with its length reaching 25-26mm, the caterpillar moults to the 5th and final instar.

A newly moulted 4th instar caterpillar with its exuvia nearby.

Two views of a 4th instar caterpillar, length: 21mm.

Two views of a late 4th instar caterpillar, dormant prior to its moult, length: 26.5mm.

Essentially similar to the 4th instar caterpillar, the body of the 5th instar caterpillar is initially in lighter shade of green but gradually assuming a dark shade of green with a purplish tinge. There are noticeably more tiny whitish spots on the body compared to the 4th instar.

A newly moulted 5th instar caterpillar with its exuvia nearby.

Two views of a 5th instar caterpillar, length: 43mm.

This final instar lasts for 7-8 days with the caterpillar reaching a mature length of about 41-43mm. On the last day, the caterpillar ceases its feeding activity and its body becomes shortened and decolorised to a pale yellowish coloration. It then seeks out a spot on the underside of a mature leaf and stays put. There it spins large quantity of silk threads to make a silk mound, to which its posterior claspers are then attached to. Now the pre-pupa hangs from this anchor point in a head-down posture. A short transverse white band appears on the dorsum about mid-body.

A late 5th instar caterpillar, with its body shortened and decolorised.

Two views of a pre-pupa of the Malay Viscount.

After about 1 day of the pre-pupal stage, pupation takes place. The pupa is suspended with its cremaster firmly attached to the silk mound. It has a smooth body which tapers steeply towards each end from a high transverse dorsal ridge which is lined with an interrupted golden transverse band. The green pupa has a series of rounded spots symmetrically arranged. These spots are initially creamy yellow but becoming golden about 1 day later. Two short golden-colored cephalic horns are also featured. Length of pupae: 18-20mm.

The pupation event of a Malay Viscount butterfly. [Change to HD or 4k video setting for best view quality.]

Two views of a newly formed pupa of the Malay Viscount.

Two views of a pupa of the Malay Viscount.

Nine days later, the pupa becomes considerably darkened, especially in the wing case area, signaling the end of the development of the adult still encased within. The next day, the adult butterfly ecloses and stays near the empty pupal case for an hour or two before taking its first flight.

Two views of a mature pupa of the Malay Viscount.

The eclosion event of a Malay Viscount butterfly. [Change to HD or 4k video setting for best view quality.]

Left: A newly eclosed female. Right: A newly eclosed male Malay Viscount.

References:

• [C&P4] The Butterflies of The Malay Peninsula, A.S. Corbet and H.M. Pendlebury, 4th Edition, Malayan Nature Society.
• Butterflies of Thailand, Pisuth Ek-Amnuay, 2nd Edition, 2012
• A Field Guide to the Butterflies of Singapore, Khew S.K., Ink On Paper Communications, 2010.

Text by Horace Tan, Photos by Koh Cher Hern, Nelson Ong, Tan Ben Jin, Anthony Wong, Federick Ho, Khew SK and Horace Tan

Butterflies Galore! : White Banded Awl

Butterflies Galore!
The White Banded Awl (Hasora taminatus malayanus)

The White Banded Awl is rare in Singapore, and is usually associated with the forested nature reserves, rather than urban parks and gardens. It is a fast flyer like most of the "Awls" and appears in the early morning hours of the day, zipping and feeding at damp concrete or stone walls and wooden structures in the vicinity of the nature reserves. In the later hours of the day, it is usually found in deep shady forests where it has a tendency of perching upside down under a leaf, with its wings folded upright.

This individual was encountered much later than usual in the morning, after 10am, perhaps due to the overcast and cool weather last Sunday. It was flying rapidly under the sheltered pavilion at Upper Seleter Reservoir Park, and stopping frequently to feed on some spilt fluids on the concrete table. Note the narrow white post-discal band and the iridescent bluish-green wing bases on both wings, which are diagnostic identification features of the White Banded Awl.

Butterfly of the Month - August 2014

Butterfly of the Month - August 2014

The Tree Yellow (Gandaca harina distanti)

We move into the 8th month of the year 2014, looking back at a series of alarming human conflicts in the Middle East - all in the name of religion. A paradox of sorts, as no major religion that we know of, teaches its subjects to harm, maim or kill others. The atrocities that have been reported in the daily media only serves to reinforce the view that mankind is the weak link and can be manipulated to lose all sense of human-ness and reason.

Further west to Africa, a deadly virus rears its ugly head again, as the Ebola Haemorrhagic Fever spreads across the African nations of Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. First discovered back in 1976 in Zaire (now known as Republic of the Congo), Ebola has no known cure to date, and has a fatality rate of over 65%. On the 8th of this month, the World Health Organisation declared the epidemic to be an international public health emergency. We can only hope that the spread of the disease to other parts of the world can be effectively contained before it explodes into another SARS-like emergency.

On 9 Aug this year, Singapore celebrated its 49th birthday since it became an independent city-state in 1965. It was a time for reflection on the progress of the nation from a struggling 3rd world Asian city to the successful metropolis that many other nations look on with admiration and envy. However, there is much angst amongst the locals these days, if comments on social media are to be taken seriously, as Singaporeans come to terms with the high cost of living and other daily struggles.



I had the opportunity to travel to the UAE this month. For many of us who travel abroad, it is always amazing to learn how well-regarded Singapore is. I was at the Dubai airport immigration, and had waited for the passenger in front of me (a Caucasian) to clear his immigration check. It took quite some time, as I saw him gesticulating angrily to the officer and looking displeased about the delay and being questioned. As he left in a huff, I quickly placed my passport on the counter with apprehension, and smiled at the officer, who appeared irritated at the previous passenger. He took a look at my passport, gestured to me to do the usual video check, and said "you're from Singapore?". I said yes, and he smiled at me, stamped my passport and said, "beautiful city!". I was out in about 30secs!




August is certainly not the best month of the year to travel to Dubai and Abu Dhabi, where the daytime temperatures typically hit 40degC. But business calls, and off I went. My last trip to Dubai was some years back, and returning to this city in the sun again, I was no less impressed by the achievements and progress that followed after the global financial crisis.


City skyline of Dubai, with the Burj Al-Arab hotel in the background

An hour's drive to Abu Dhabi, which I visited for the first time, also left a positive impression of the cleanliness and advancements of these two Middle Eastern cities. Five to seven lane highways (and that's in one direction!) were typical of their expressways, with new shiny luxury cars plying the well-built roads. However, looking around the harsh desert landscape made me miss the verdant equatorial greenery that we have in Singapore. Needless to say, I did not see a single butterfly throughout my entire trip, even though I'm sure they must be out there somewhere!


A Tree Yellow feeds on the flower of the Bandicoot Berry

Coming back to our Butterfly of the Month, we feature a common and rather plain-looking butterfly, the Tree Yellow (Gandaca harina distanti). This small and predominantly yellow butterfly is a forest-specialist, and is usually found in Singapore's forested nature reserves and fringe areas surrounding the nature reserves. It is skittish, and is typically fluttering around restlessly as it moves in search for food. It is rarely seen outside the forested areas in Singapore.


A trio of puddling Tree Yellows

The Tree Yellow is common and is regularly observed feeding at flowering plants as well as puddling with other butterfly species at sandy streambanks and damp forest footpaths. Contrary to the early authors' observations that mention that this species does not puddle, the Tree Yellow has been often encountered puddling - at times in numbers that exceed 6 individuals!


A Tree Yellow puddles with an Anderson's Grass Yellow in the background

The Tree Yellow resembles the related Eurema species (Grass Yellows) and are often seen in the company of these other species. However, the Tree Yellow is much paler, slightly larger and totally unmarked on the undersides of the wings.



Except for a narrow black marginal border on the upperside of the forewings, the Tree Yellow is a consistent lemon yellow throughout. Females of the species can be distinguished by a dentate projection in the forewing black border at vein 4, and is generally paler than the males.


A newly-eclosed Tree Yellow clings on to its pupa shell

The recorded caterpillar host plants of the Tree Yellow are Monocarpia marginalis and Mitrephora maingayi.

Text by Khew SK : Photos by James Chia, Khew SK, Koh CH, Nelson Ong, Simon Sng, Horace Tan and Lemon Tea.

Butterflies Galore! : Cornelian

Butterflies Galore!
The Cornelian (Deudorix epijarbas cinnabarus)

The Cornelian is one of two species of the genus Deudorix that has been reliably observed to be extant in Singapore. The early authors' checklists show other species, but that remains to be validated in recent years. The word Cornelian is usually associated with the gemstone "cornelian" which is a red variety of chalcedony, a type of quartz. Its red colour is due to the presence of iron impurities in the form of iron oxide or hematite. The name of the butterfly, which features a bright red upperside, probably comes from its association with the red coloured gem, cornelian.

The butterfly is usually skittish and able to fly at tremendous speeds. However, it can usually be photographed when it is feeding on flowers, or in this case, feeding on the sugary sap on the young inflorescence of the Tiger Orchid. This shot was taken by ButterflyCircle member Loke PF.

Life History of the Palm Bob

Life History of the  Palm Bob (Suastus gremius gremius)

Butterfly Biodata:
Genus: Suastus Moore, 1881
Species: gremius Fabricius, 1798
Sub-species: gremius Fabricius, 1798
Wingspan of Adult Butterfly: 33-35mm
Caterpillar Local Host Plants: Cocos nucifera (Arecaceae; common name: Coconut), Rhapis excelsa (Arecaceae, common name: Lady Palm).

Physical Description of Adult Butterfly:

Above, the wings are brown with the forewing adorned with pale yellow hyaline spots in the cell-end and spaces 1b, 2, 3, 6, 7 and 8. The hindwing is unmarked. The tornal cilia are whitish. Beneath, the wings are greyish brown with the hindwing overlaid with buff scaling and featuring a number of moderately large and well defined black spots.

Field Observations of Butterfly Behaviour:

The Palm Bob is common in Singapore. Sightings are rather frequent in nature reserves and in urban parks and gardens. The adults are fast flyers and are skittish when disturbed. They have been observed to visit flowers and sunbathe in sunny weather, and to puddle on bird dropping.

Early Stages:

Worldwide, a fair number of palm species have been recorded as larval host plants for the Palm Bob. The same is true in Singapore, and two of them have so far been identified as the Coconut Palm and the Lady Palm. Both palm species are rather commonly cultivated in parks and gardens across the island. The caterpillars of the Palm Bob feed on the leaves of the host plant in all instars, and live in leaf shelters constructed by cutting and folding leaf fragment on a palm frond. As the caterpillar grows in size later through progressing instars, it will abandon the current one and construct a larger one to accommodate its increased body size/length.

Local host plant: Coconut.

A female Palm Bob laying an egg on the upperside of a leaf frond of the Coconut Palm.

The eggs are laid singly on the upper surface of a leaf of the host plant. Each shallow dome-shaped egg is wine red with whitish longitudinal ridges emanating from the perimeter of the micropylar area sitting atop the egg. The eggs are rather large with a diameter of about 1.4mm.

Two views of an egg of the Palm Bob, diameter: 1.4mm.

It takes about 4 days for the egg to hatch. The egg decolorizes to a dull shade of pinky brown when fully mature on the last day of this phase. The young caterpillar nibbles away just enough of the shell to emerge, but it makes only a feeble attempt to eat the remaining egg shell. The newly hatched has a length of about 3mm. Its bright orangy red body is cylindrical in shape and there is a tuff of moderately long setae on the posterior segment. Its head is in a bright shade of reddish brown.

A sequence of three views of a mature egg on the last day of the oval stage.

Two views of a newly hatched 1st instar caterpillar, length: 3mm.

After abandoning the empty egg shell, the newly hatched caterpillar constructs its first leaf shelter typically on the same leaflet of the palm frond. From the shelter, the caterpillar leaves the shelter periodically to feed on the nearby leaf lamina. The 1st instar takes a total of 3.5-4 days to complete with body length reaching about 6mm.

Two views of a 1st instar caterpillar, length: 4.5mm.

Two views of a leaf shelter of a 1st instar caterpillar, showing both sides of the leaf. The lower panel shows the actual shelter along the mid-rib.

The unmarked body of the 2nd instar caterpillar resembles that of the first instar at first but in a subdued tone of orangy red for both body and the head capsule (which bears two obscure whitish stripes afront). The tuff of moderately long setae is still present. The prominent anal plate is made of two semi-circular halves outlined in white. As the instar progresses, its body takes on a strong greenish undertone, and gradually losing its reddish tone. This instar lasts a total of 3 days with the body length reaching up to 9mm.

Two views of an early 2nd instar caterpillar, length: 5.5mm.

Two views of a 2nd instar caterpillar, length: 8.2mm.

Two views of a late 2nd instar caterpillar, dormant prior to its moult, length: 8mm.

Two views of a leaf shelter of a 2nd instar caterpillar, showing both sides of hte leaf. The lower panel shows the actual shelter folding down across the mid-rib.

The 3nd instar caterpillar resembles the 2nd instar caterpillar initially but soon loses all remaining traces of reddish tone in its body. For most of this instar, the body is pale yellowish with greenish undertone. The head capsule takes on two additional whitish stripes which occur laterally, and the pale brown patches have small whitish spots embedded. This instar lasts about 3 days with the body length reaching up to 13mm.

Two views of an early 3rd instar caterpillar, length: 8mm.

Two views of a 3rd instar caterpillar, late in this stage, length: 13mm.

The 4th instar caterpillar resembles the 3rd instar caterpillar closely but with minor differences. In the head capsule, both the white and brown coloration are now more intense, giving the head a more striking appearance. Another observable change is that the spiracles are now black in colour. This penultimate instar lasts about 5 days with the body length reaching up to 20mm.

Two views of a 4th instar caterpillar, length: 16mm.

Two views of a late 4th instar caterpillar, length: 20mm.

The body of the 5th instar caterpillar is pale yellowish to whitish. The most prominent change from the 4th to the 5th takes place on the head capsule which has the brown coloration turned to black and with the whitish stripes expanded.

Two views of a newly moulted 5th instar caterpillar, lengths: 17mm.

Two views of a 5th instar caterpillar, length: 30mm.

Two leaf shelters of the Palm Bob, used by the 4th (top) and 5th (bottom) instar caterpillars.

The 5th instar takes about 8-9 days to complete with the body length reaching up to 35mm. In the last 1-2 days of this instar, the underside of caterpillar starts to excrete some whitish powdery substance. Within the leaf shelter, a large number of silk threads are spun and a great mass of small whitish particles deposited . At this time, the body shrinks in length and its body colour changed to yellowish green. The shelter is rather tightly sealed as the caterpillar enter its prepupatory phase which lasts for about 1.5 days.

A pupation shelter opened to reveal two views of a pre-pupa of the Palm Bob.

Pupation takes place within the leaf shelter. The pupa does not have a cremastral attachment nor a silk girdle and it is mainly secured with tightly woven silk threads in the shelter. It has a short thorax and a rather long abdomen. The body is darker green in the thorax and wing pad areas, but yellowish brown in the abdomen. Length of pupae: 19-20mm.

Two views of a pupa of the Palm Bob.

After 8 days, the pupa becomes mostly dark brown as the adult development stage within the pupal case comes to an end. Eclosion takes place the next day.

Two views of a mature pupa of the Palm Bob.

A newly eclosed Palm Bob.

References:

• [C&P4] The Butterflies of The Malay Peninsula, A.S. Corbet and H.M. Pendlebury, 4th Edition, Malayan Nature Society.
• Butterflies of Thailand, Pisuth Ek-Amnuay, 2nd Edition, 2012
• A Field Guide to the Butterflies of Singapore, Khew S.K., Ink On Paper Communications, 2010.

Text by Horace Tan, Photos by Ellen Tan, Tan Chung Pheng, Bobby Mun, Federick Ho, Khew SK and Horace Tan.