My first sighting of the day was this orange skipper. As usual, it liked to bask under the morning sun, giving me a good opportunity to capture the upperside markings. I realise that there are some black spots on the hindwing termen margin. It took off with a high speed when I tried to get closer. Luckily, it settled on a new perch again after a short flight. The wings remained close for a very short moment before they opened again, partially at times. So, to capture a clear underside picture for identicfication purpose, I had to "reset" its perch a few times and take the shot quickly the moment it rested again with closed wings. The more pronounced outlines of the black markings suggest that it may not be a Telicota species. I think this is more likely to be a Potanthus serina.
Quite a few Eurema sari sodalis ( Chocolate Grass Yellow) belonging to the Pieridae family, were busy fluttering close to the ground level from flower to flower. Here is a lucky shot on this pristine specimen when it was feeding on the Common Asystasia flower in front of me. Another common forest skipper, Pyroneura latoia latoia (Yellow Vein Lancer) likes to feed on the small white flowers of Leea indica. The underside wing patterns and colours are distinctive enough that we would not miss this skipper in the field. Notice that the clubs of the antennae are light yellow in colour.In my past few years of butterfly watching in the wild, I have never seen so many Notocryta paralusos varians (Banded Demon) at one time . I think this is due to the abundance of ginger plant species around the area.
This dark brown skipper with unmarked hindwings, looks like a Caltoris species.
I can never be sure of identifying such a skipper.
Othe butterfly species spotted :
1. Graphium agamemnon agamemnon (Tailed Jay)
The dark brown skipper (photo #8)
ReplyDeleteLooks very close to one of the Baoris sp.
SC