Black and White

Black and White
Featuring some black and white butterflies

Butterflies are traditionally portrayed as pretty insects adorned in all colours of the spectrum, fluttering gracefully amongst flowers. Moths, on the other hand, are often depicted as drab ugly creatures that only fly at night. In nature, and amongst Lepidoptera, this may be furthest from the truth!

There are numerous colourful moths in our environment - some even more spectacularly coloured than butterflies. On the other hand, there are also many drab-coloured and relatively unattractive butterflies. The colour of a butterfly's wings are often the subject of attention and enthusiasts tend to assess a butterfly's "attractiveness" by the colour and pattern of its wings.

However, like all of Mother Nature's creations, there is always a great diversity in the appearance of our natural world. Butterflies are no exception. This blogpost takes a look at some species of butterflies whose wings do not feature any colour of the visible spectrum, but are predominantly black and white, both on the upperside and underside of their wings.

Almost all black and white, the Helens have red or blue ocelli adorning their hindwings

Amongst the Birdwings and Swallowtails in Singapore, there are some species that have primarily black wings with some white patches. However, many of these also feature red, blue and other coloured lunules/eyespots that would make them more 'colourful' than just appearing as black and white butterflies.

Amongst the Pieridae are some species that are mainly white in appearance, with their veins or wings featuring black borders and margins. Some of these species would qualify as black and white candidates in this article. The male Striped Albatross, the Cabbage White and the seasonal migrant, the Plain Puffin can all be considered black and white species in this family.

The Crows from the Danainae subfamily are predominantly black butterflies with white markings

The next group would be the Danainaes, of which the Crows in particular, feature a few species that are predominantly black, with some white spots and streaks on the wings. The Crows appear black as compared the Albatrosses in the preceding family that appear white. The noteworthy species are the Spotted Black Crow, Malayan Crow, King Crow, Blue Spotted Crow and Striped Black Crow that would qualify as black and white species.

The Tree Nymph species are large and slow flying black and white butterflies

Also amongst the Danainaes, are the Idea species or more popularly called the Tree Nymphs. These are large and spectacular black and white butterflies that are attractive in their own right, despite not have any other prominent colours on their wings, except for black and white.  The Common Tree Nymph and the Mangrove Tree Nymph are the black and white species that can be found in Singapore.

Only the uppersides of the Sailors and Sergeants are typically black and white.  Some of the species have orange, brown or bluish-grey undersides.

Some of the Sergeant and Sailor species of the subfamily Limetidinae are also black and white striped on their upperside of their wings. However, most of them have either orange, brown and bluish gray undersides which would make them black and white candidates only when viewed from their dorsal side.

The Chequered Lancer is one of the black and white species amongst the skippers but on the upperside, the wings have orange-brown spots

Most of the other species in the remaining subfamilies amongst the Nymphalidae, the Riodinidae and Hesperiidae are largely coloured and very few can be considered true black and white butterflies. Some of the skippers come close to be purely black and white, but either their upperside or underside are brownish or with coloured accents that do not make them true black and white butterflies.

The Polyommatinae species in the Lycaenidae family feature some true black and white butterflies

In the family Lycaenidae, three Singapore-extant species, the Elbowed Pierrot, Malayan and the Quaker can be considered black and white species as both their under and uppersides are predominantly of black and white or grayscale colouration in appearance.

With that short introduction to our black and white species found in Singapore, see if you can spot any more that may come over from neighbouring countries in future. These species are considered the "Zebras" of our butterfly world - just simple black and white like the mammalian namesake from the horse or Equidae family.

Text by Khew SK : Photos by Sunny Chir, Federick Ho, Khew SK, Koh CH, Loke PF, Jonathan Soong and Benjamin Yam

Butterfly of the Month - November 2019

Butterfly of the Month - November 2019
The Sumatran Gem (Poritia sumatrae sumatrae)


A Sumatran Gem perches on a leaf in the shaded forest understorey with its wings folded upright

We are now into the 2nd last month of 2019 trundling towards the end of a very tumultuous year. It has been a rather difficult year for many of us, from personal challenges and misfortunes to tough business environments and tragic world events. The US-China trade war continues to trigger unprecedented impacts across many countries and individuals, creating direct and indirect uncertainties to people around the world.

Not too far away, the protests in Hong Kong that started in July seems to have continued unabated for the past 4-5 months. With each passing month, the protests appeared to have become more intense and violent, with properties and public amenities damaged or destroyed. The world watches with curiosity and shock. as there seems to be nothing any external party can do to help resolve Hong Kong's domestic issues except for it to be tackled from within. What exactly is the outcome or objective of the protests seem to elude logical understanding from our external perspective.

As suddenly it had started, the haze disappeared just as quickly and people in the region went back to their normal lives. Until the next burning season, that is. And then the finger-pointing and grousing starts all over again as people scramble for their N95 masks and avoid strenuous outdoor activities (like butterfly watching outings!)

At home, domestic issues that dominated the news include Personal Mobility Device (PMD) accidents and recalcitrant behaviour of a minority of such users who continue to flout the law. On another front, the issue between the self-entitled and lack of basic graciousness when dealing with condominium rules and the security personnel who enforce them, was heatedly debated on social media. The ugly side of online vigilantism also showed how social media frenzy tends to quickly breach the boundaries of extreme behaviour.

A pair of male Sumatran Gems perched on a leaf side by side

Almost all over Singapore, the number of butterflies seemed to be generally on the decline. Our usual "hunting grounds" tended to turn out much lower counts and sightings over the past couple of months compared to previous years. Perhaps the prolonged hot and dry spell, combined with the haze may have had some environmental effect that limited the number and diversity of butterfly species. Let us see if this changes in the coming cooler and wetter months and into the start of 2020.

The Butterfly of the Month for November 2019 is a "gem" of a butterfly - small but spectacularly coloured Sumatran Gem (Poritia sumatrae sumatrae). A species that usually frequents the heavily shaded forest understorey, the iridescent emerald green of the male tends to catch an observer's attention quickly as the butterfly opens and closes its wings when it stops to rest.

A mating pair of Sumatran Gems

Moderately rare and local in its distribution, the Sumatran Gem is one of two species from the genus Poritia that can be found in Singapore. At times, it is observed along forest edges in the early hours of the morning, flying and stopping to sunbathe with open wings. Most of the rest of the day, it is found in the forest understorey and flits around from perch to perch with its wings folded upright.

The beautiful emerald green upperside of a male Sumatran Gem

The male Sumatran Gem is a bright metallic emerald green, with thick black apical borders on its upperside. In the forested areas, males tend to fly around from leaf to leaf, stopping and then opening and closing its wings for a few moments before settling to rest with its wings closed upright. It rarely opens its wings fully, preferring a semi-opened position most of the time.

The Sumatran Gem is a sexually dimorphic species, with the purple female very different in appearance from the male

The female is a light purple above with reddish streaks and has black marginal markings on both wings. Females are much rarer than the males and are less often spotted. They too, prefer forest edges in the nature reserves and are more often encountered in the heavily shaded forest understorey.

The underside of the Sumatran Gem is reddish brown with thick striations. Much of the reddish striations on both wings are black-bordered. The hindwing is mildly scalloped with the cilia blackened. The legs of the butterfly are banded black and white, whilst the compound eyes are transparent. The antennae are orange tipped.

Text by Khew SK : Photos by Goh EC, Huang CJ, Khew SK, Loh MY, Jonathan Soong, Tee Wee Kiat, Anthony Wong and Mark Wong

Barons of Singapore

The Barons of Singapore
Featuring the Baron butterflies of Singapore


A male Horsfield's Baron basks in the bright sunshine

In medieval times, Barons are members of a specific rank of nobility, especially the lowest rank in the British Isles. Being part of the European imperial, royal, noble, gentry and chivalric ranks, a baron is ranked just below a Viscount and Count and above the knights and military personnel in the hierarchy.


A female Malay Baron feeding on the ripened fruits of the Singapore Rhododendron

In modern times, barons are often referred to people having great wealth, power, and influence in a specified sphere of activity or industry. Irrespective of which era in history we prefer to be associated with, to be referred to as a baron would be to be given a position that is above the ordinary folk by any measure.




Amongst our butterflies, barons are the common names given to several species of stout-bodied and powerful flyers in the Limetidinae sub-family. As postulated in an earlier blogpost, the British gentry titles appear to be used for many species of butterflies amongst the Nymphalidae. There are five extant "baron" butterflies found in Singapore with four in the genus Euthalia and one in the genus Tanaecia (Cynitia). All five species display varying degrees of sexual dimorphism, of which the males and females are different in size, colours and markings on the wings.

1. The Baron (Euthalia aconthea gurda)


A female Baron puddling on a tarmac road in an urban residential estate

One of the urban species of " barons" in Singapore is the Baron (or sometimes referred to as the Common Baron in some countries). It is widely distributed, and can be found in urban gardens, parks and in the forested reserves. As its preferred caterpillar host plant is the Mango (Mangifera indica), it is sometimes seen in residential areas where the host plant is cultivated as a roadside tree.

The Baron is dark brown above with a broad obscure post-discal band on both wings. On the upperside of the forewings are small white spots at the end of the disc and sub-apical area. The wings have a dark purple tinge when viewed in a side light. The underside is paler, with a series of sub-marginal black spots on the hindwing.

The female is larger of of a lighter brown than the male. It has larger but diffused post-discal spots on its forewings. These spots are variable and in some individuals several spots may be totally absent, which may suggest a different species. In this earlier blogpost on the variability of the Baron, examples of the range of the differences in the presence/absence of the spots are shown.

2. The Malay Baron (Euthalia monina monina)

The Malay Baron is usually associated with the forested nature reserves of Singapore, but can sometimes be spotted in urban parks and gardens. This species is remarkable in that it is a good example of sexual polymorphism, particularly in the males. There are so many variants in the forms of the males as to suggest that further studies and categorisations of the forms should be conducted on this species.

Three different male forms of the Malay Baron

It is probably more often encountered than the preceding species and is considered common in Singapore. It is fast-flying and can be skittish, often taking off at high speeds when disturbed. Both males and females may be observed feeding on overripe fruits on bushes and on the forest floor. The male is smaller in size than the female, and occurs in three described forms, although in recent years, there have been individuals that show characteristics that are hybrids across several forms, or could be even a distinct form. The underside of both sexes are paler than the upperside with zigzig post-marginal markings across both wings.

The female is brown with distinct markings on both wings. It looks similar to the Malay Viscount and the female Horsfield's Baron when in flight and can sometimes be confused with the other two lookalikes. The sub-marginal zigzag markings are distinct and connected across both the fore and hindwings.

3. The Green Baron (Euthalia adonia pinwilli)


A male Green Baron feeding on the ripened fruit of the Singapore Rhododendron

The Green Baron is moderately common and is quite well-distributed across the island. As its caterpillars feed on the parasitic plant, Malayan Mistletoe (Dendropththoe pentandra), it can be found anywhere from our urban parks and gardens to the forested nature reserves. Both sexes are strong flyers and alert to movement.

The male Green Baron is dark green above with a lighter green tornal area on the hindwing. The forewings have white sub-apical and post-discal spots. There are red spots at the apical area of the hindwing. On the underside, the red spotting is more distinct and extensive on both wings. The green tornal area is quite distinct on the underside of the hindwing.

The female Green Baron has a broad white band across both wings, which may cause an observer to mistake it for a Commander when it is flying around. It is much larger than the male but both sexes are often observed to feed on overripe fruits as well as flowering plants.

4. The White-Tipped Baron (Euthalia merta merta)

The rarest of our Barons in Singapore, the White Tipped Baron has been infrequently sighted mainly in the forested nature reserves. Another typical example of sexual dimorphism like its other cousins from the Euthalia genus, the females are larger than the males and both sexes appear quite different from each other.

The male White-Tipped Baron is dark brown above with the usual markings that make it look quite similar to the Baron and Malay Baron. The species displays a slight bluish sheen and in particular the leading edge of the forewing from the apex to mid-costa appears blue in certain lighting conditions. The underside is paler with the usual darker markings across both wings.

The female appears similar to a Malay Viscount at a glance and is similarly coloured. The forewing has large white pointed post-discal spots in spaces 2-6. The dark sub-marginal line on the hindwing is composed of dark arrowhead spots pointing towards the wing margins.

5. The Horsfield's Baron (Tanaecia iapis puseda)

The last of the "barons" that is in a different genus from the four preceding species. The Horsfield's Baron belongs to the genus Tanaecia (which has been reclassified under Cynitia in some recent references) . The species displays an exaggerated sexual dimorphism where the males and females look so different as to suggest that they are two different species.

The upperside of the male Horsfield's Baron is a rich velvety black with a broad and distinct bright blue marginal border across the hindwing that reaches the tornal area of the forewing. The underside is a pale buff with light brown diffused markings.

The female is a pale reddish brown with markings that superficially resembles a Malay Viscount or a female Malay Baron, and indeed, these three species are often confused in the field. The sub-marginal V-shaped markings in the female Horsfield's Baron are more diffused and not as distinct/sharp as the lookalike species.

Text by Khew SK : Photos by Bob Cheong, Huang CJ, Khew SK, Koh CH, Jonathan Soong, Horace Tan and Anthony Wong