Ubin Day 2014

ButterflyCircle @ Ubin Day 2014
A Morning at Butterfly Hill

A memorable shot for the album! ButterflyCircle members with PM Lee Hsien Loong at Butterfly Hill, Pulau Ubin. Note the Plain Tiger that photobombed our group shot just above our heads.

The 3rd instalment of Ubin Day returned on 30 Nov 2014, after more than a decade's hiatus. The idea for a special day to celebrate Pulau Ubin was initiated by Grant Pereira and there were two "Ubin Days" held in 2002 and 2003, and none since then. Back then, Ubin Day was celebrated to create awareness and appreciation of this "Granite Stone Island" as its name suggest in Bahasa Melayu.

An aerial view of Butterfly Hill @ Pulau Ubin. © NParks

The 7km by 2km island is often considered the "last frontier" of Singapore's rustic environment and hot bed of rich biodiversity. Spared from intensive development for the past few decades, whilst Singapore grew from third world to first, with its rapid physical development, time almost stood still for Pulau Ubin, after the early granite quarries stopped operations.

Today, the island is a favourite weekend destination for many Singaporeans and residents who visit the island to get away from the urban lifestyle and hectic rush of our daily work life. Offering a wide spectrum of mainly outdoor activities from cycling and bird watching, to camping and canoeing, Pulau Ubin continues to attract nature lovers and the outdoor types on weekends and public holidays.

A male Common Birdwing (Troides helena cerberus) feeds on a Hibiscus flower. This species is regularly seen in numbers at Butterfly Hill

In early 2014, the Ministry of National Development, led by Minister of State Desmond Lee, visited Pulau Ubin with a group of nature enthusiasts, heritage experts, community leaders and public sector agencies. The visit was part of the wider plan to initiate a conversation with Singaporeans on how everyone can play a part to suggest ideas to sensitively enhance the natural environment of Pulau Ubin, which was announced by Mr Desmond Lee in Parliament in March 2014.

An Orange Emigrant (Catopsilia scylla cornelia) feeding on the Snakeweed Flower at Butterfly Hill

Subsequently, the Friends of Ubin Network (FUN) was set up to continue to engage the stakeholders whilst a public feedback portal and Ubin microsite to discuss possible options for Ubin. There have been numerous media articles and blog articles discussing what different groups of people want for Ubin.

With Ria Tan, one of the motivating forces behind Ubin Day

This year, Ubin Day was spearheaded by Ria Tan, Sumita Thiagarajan, working with NParks, which capably hosted the event. Ubin Day 2014 was supported by 31 different organising groups featuring a wide range of activities, throughout the day (and night!). The guest of honour for Ubin Day was none other than the Prime Minister of Singapore, Mr Lee Hsien Loong.

Our junior member, Jonathan Soong briefing some of the participants

ButterflyCircle members organised a butterfly watching and photography session at Butterfly Hill. This little knoll, which I wrote about recently, is an excellent place to watch butterflies and good for photographers who are starting out and learning how to shoot butterflies in their natural environment.

Our day started earlier than usual, and our members gathered at the Changi Ferry Terminal at 7:30am. We quickly boarded one of the bumboats and headed out towards Ubin. Looking back towards the east, the morning sun and clear skies promised a hot sunny day ahead!

Traffic jam at sea!

At the Ubin jetty side, a slight mismatch in schedules caused a "traffic jam" as security personnel who were inspecting the jetty had not completed their work, and caused a bunch-up of all the bumboats waiting to berth at the jetty. It was quite interesting to see, for the first time, at least 20 boats bobbing up and down just a few metres shy of the jetty, with their passengers waiting impatiently to disembark and get on with the day's activities.

Finally, we got the all-clear signal and all the groups headed to their pre-determined stations to start their activities. I was at the town square, where several groups had set up booths displaying posters and other paraphernalia showcasing their groups' activities. ButterflyCircle members headed towards Butterfly Hill to wait for the registered participants for our activity.

PM Lee giving his speech

Before long, the guest of honour, PM Lee had arrived at Ubin and headed for the town square. He gave a speech about the government's intention to contain Ubin's development to what is needed, and also sensitively develop any new facilities with biodiversity conservation in mind. He toured the booths and chatted with the volunteers. After that, he set off on a tour of the island and some of the key areas.

ButterflyCircle members and participants in action at Butterfly Hill

I made my way up to Butterfly Hill, where our members were already at work, spotting butterflies for the participants and sharing a tip or two about butterfly photography. It was encouraging to see the participants working hard, chasing the butterflies that were out and about on this sunny morning.

PM Lee at Butterfly Hill and engaging the butterfly-loving community

At around 11am in the morning, PM Lee and his entourage reached Butterfly Hill and we showed him around the hill, highlighting the butterfly-friendly landscaping and myriad of butterflies fluttering around. PM Lee stopped and took a few photo mementoes of his own. He sportingly entertained "selfies" from amongst our members, before taking a group shot with ButterflyCircle members at Butterfly Hill.

Two additions to Butterfly Hill checklist and also the Singapore Checklist!  
Top : Grey Glassy Tiger (Ideopsis juventa sitah) and Bottom : Malayan Nawab (Polyura moori moori)

The day ended just past noon, where we had a sumptuous lunch at the "two sisters'" kopitiam. It was a satisfying day for our members. Our junior member, Jonathan Soong, even managed to record a re-discovery for Singapore on Ubin Day itself - the Malayan Nawab (Polyura moori moori) at Butterfly Hill. This was added, together with an earlier discovery on 5 Oct 2014 of the Grey Glassy Tiger (Ideopsis juventa sitah) by ButterflyCircle member Loke PF, also at Butterfly Hill!

ButterflyCircle's Pioneer Generation members - Bob Cheong and Sunny Chir - Give them a TIGER! 


Tired but happy.  On the boat ride back to Changi Jetty and home!

It was a memorable day for all, as we headed back to Changi Ferry Terminal. Thanks to Ria for inviting ButterflyCircle to join in the fun on Ubin Day, and our friends in NParks for capably providing the logistics support for the whole day. We look forward to a nature and biodiversity-friendly Pulau Ubin for many years to come!

Text by Khew SK : Photos by Sunny Chir, Chng CK, Huang CJ, Khew SK, Loke PF, Jonathan Soong, Tan Keyang and Tan Hui Yu

Special thanks to ButterflyCircle members who turned up to volunteer their time at Butterfly Hill on Ubin Day : Sunny Chir, Chng Chuen Kiong, Huang Caijin, Koh Cher Hern, Loke Peng Fai, Tan Keyang, Lemon Tea and Jonathan Soong.

Thanks also to our NParks friends, CEO Kenneth Er, "Mayor of Ubin" Robert Teo, Choi Yook Sau and many many other Nparks staff who supported ButterflyCircle and made our day special.

References and Further Reading :

Ubin Day 2014 Website - http://ubinday2014.wix.com/ubin
Ubin Day 2014 - On WildSingapore - http://wildshores.blogspot.sg/2014/12/what-makes-ubin-day-special-ubin-day.html#.VIvvUSuUeSo
ChannelNewsAsia report on Ubin Day - http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/sustaining-pulau-ubin-s/1502310.html

Life History of the Dark Brand Bush Brown

Life History of the Dark Brand Bush Brown (Mycalesis mineus macromalayana)

Butterfly Biodata:
Genus: Mycalesis Hübner, 1818
Species: mineus Linnaeus, 1758
Subspecies: macromalayana Fruhstorfer, 1911
Wingspan of Adult Butterfly: 40-45mm
Caterpillar Local Host Plants: Axonopus compressus (Poaceae, common names: Wide-leaved Carpet Grass, Cow Grass), Paspalum conjugatum (Poaceae, common names: Buffalo Grass, Hilo Grass).

Physical Description of Adult Butterfly:
On the upperside, the wings are dark greyish  brown with a large but obscure ocellus in space 2 of the forewing, and rarely any ocellus on  the hindwing. The male has a small, dark brown sex brand in space 1b of the forewing, and another one at vein 7 of the hindwing overlaid with a pale yellow hair tuff. On the underside, both wings are paler brown in ground colour and have a clear-whitish post-discal band. There is a series of ringed ocelli in the submarginal area on both wings. In the forewing, the submarginal ocelli usually include only one ocellus in each of spaces 2 and 5, with the former being much larger.  In the hindwing, there is a thin, dark indentation line  stretching down to (but not beyond) vein 1b. Furthermore, the  lower 4 ocelli in the hindwing (in spaces 1b, 2 and 3) are more or less aligned.

Field Observations of Butterfly Behaviour:
The Dark Brand Bush Brown is a common butterfly in Singapore. Adults are typically sighted flying in and around grassy patches at multiple locations across the island. As with other Satyrinae members, the adults fly in an erratic and jerky manner as their wings are closed for a relatively long period during flights.

Early Stages:
Two common grass species, Axonopus compressus and Paspalum conjugatum, have been recorded as larval hosts for the Dark Brand Bush Brown in Singapore so far. The caterpillars feed on leaves of the host plant, and have been observed to forcefully ejecting their frass pellets, a larval habit rarely seen outside the skipper/flat families. They tend to rest lengthwise on the underside of a leaf during pauses between feeds.

Dark Brand Bush Brown caterpillars in the act of catapulting frass pellets.

Local host plant #1: Axonopus compressus.

Local host plant #2: Paspalum conjugatum.

A mating pair of the  Dark Brand Bush Brown.

The eggs are laid singly on the underside of a grass blade. Each spherical egg (about 1.1mm in diameter) is pale translucent with a light greenish tinge. The surface appears to be smooth to the naked eyes, but is actually sculptured with a hexagonal reticulum when viewed with a macro lens.

A mother Dark Brand Bush Brown laying an egg on a blade of Axonopus compressus.

Two views of an egg of the Dark Brand Bush Brown .

Two views of a mature egg with the head clearly visible through the egg shell.

The egg takes about 3 days to hatch. The young caterpillar nibbles away a portion of the egg shell to exit and then proceeds to devour the rest of the egg shell almost entirely. It has a cylindrical body in whitish colour, and an initial body length of about 3.2mm. The body is covered with dorso-lateral and lateral rows of whitish setae. At the posterior end, there is a pair of backward-pointing processes. Its dark colored head features a number of setae and has a pair of short and rounded horns and a few lateral protuberances.

Two views of a newly hatched caterpillar, length: 3.1.mm

As a result of its leaf diet, the 1st instar caterpillar soon takes on a strong greenish undertone. As growth proceeds, the dorsum of the last two to three segments turns reddish. The first instar lasts about 2.5-3 days with the body length increases to about 6-6.5mm.

Two views of a 1st instar caterpillar, length: 5.5mm.

Two views of a late 1st instar caterpillar, dormant prior to its moult, length: 6mm.

In the 2nd instar, the cephalic horns become pointed and the two anal processes longer and thus pronounced. The few lateral conical protuberances on the head capsule are now much smaller and whitish in colour. The body is yellowish green. The head and body is also adorned with numerous minute tubercles, each with a single seta emanating from it. The 2nd instar lasts about 3 days with the body length reaches about 9.8mm.

Two views of a 2nd instar caterpillar, early in this stage, 7mm.

Two views of a 2nd instar caterpillar, length: 9.3mm.

Two views of a late 2nd instar caterpillar, dormant prior to its moult, length: 9mm.

The 3rd instar caterpillar mostly resembles the previous instar. The head capsule is dark brown in the cephalic horns and the basal areas around the mouth parts but pale brown elsewhere. This stage also takes 3 days to complete with body length reaching about 16-16.5mm.

Two views of 3nd instar caterpillar, early in this stage, length: 9.8mm.

Two views of a 3nd instar caterpillar, length: 14mm.

Two views of a late 3nd instar caterpillar, dormant prior to its moult, length: 15.5mm.

The 4th instar caterpillar bears a close resemblance to the 3rd instar caterpillar with no obvious change of any features or markings. The 4th instar lasts about 4 days with body length reaching about 23-25mm.

Two views of a newly moulted 4th instar caterpillar, length: 14.9mm.

Two views of a late 4th instar caterpillar, dormant prior to its moult, length: 19.5mm.

Two views of a late 4th instar caterpillar, dormant prior to its moult, length: 24.5mm.

The next moult brings the caterpillar to its 5th and final instar. Now the caterpillar could appear in two colour forms: a brown form which is mostly pale to dark reddish brown and a yellow form which is pale yellowish green. Feature wise, there is now a narrow band on the dorsum of the thorax. In addition, small black dorso-lateral spots appear at the joints between segments 2 to 7. Furthermore, faint oblique stripes adorns the body surface. Initially the head capsule bears similar markings to the previous instar, but this turns increasing dark to black as growth progresses. In a period of about 6 days, the body grows to a maximum length of about 40-41mm.

Two views of a 5th instar caterpillar, yellow form, length: 24mm.

Two views of a 5th instar caterpillar, brown form, length: 32mm.

Two views of a 5th instar caterpillar, brown form, late in this stage, length: 37mm.

Two views of a 5th instar caterpillar, brown form, late in this stage, length: 36mm.

Toward the end of the 5th instar for both colour forms, the body gradually shrinks in length and turn mostly yellowish green. Typically, the caterpillar will seek out a spot on the underside of a leaf blade to spin a silk pad. It then anchors itself there via its anal end, and assumes its upside-down pre-pupatory pose.

Two views of a 5th instar caterpillar, late in this stage, body shortened and body colour changed to mostly green.

A prep-pupa of the Dark Brand Bush Brown.

After one day as a pre-pupa, pupation takes place. The smooth pupa is mostly green throughout. It is somewhat angular in appearance, with a dorsal keel on the thorax and ridges defining the dorsal wing margins. There are a few small black spots dotting the wing pad margin. Dorso-lateral pairs of small whitish spots can be observed on abdominal segments 2-6. Length of pupae: 15-16mm.

A Dark Brand Bush Brown caterpillar moults to its pupal stage.

Three views of a pupa of the Dark Brand Bush Brown.

After 5.5-6 days of development, the pupa becomes darkened in color, and the ringed-spot on the forewings can now be seen through the pupal skin in the wing pads. The next day the eclosion event takes place with the adult butterfly emerges to start the next phase of its life cycle.

Three views of a mature pupa of Mycalesis persoides.

A newly eclosed Dark Brand Bush Brown.

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 Bobby Mun, L C Goh, Loke PF, Frederick Ho, Khew SK and Horace Tan