uch have been described of
Panti’s numerous feathered residents. And Laurence Leong in this
intimate article does justice to the abundance of butterflies and
other colourful insect life found in this nature area.
I held my breath and with great awe and wonder, approached gingerly
with close-up lens and camera ready. This magnificent butterfly was
“pushing” away flies as it moved to feed on animal droppings. I had
never seen one like this before – big and sturdy, the upper side
coloured yellowish-white on the forewing and bluish-white on the
hindwing, both wings bordered with black. The underside was painted
with a wild variegation of red, yellow, blue, brown and black—as
though a child had saturated brushes with these colours and randomly
splashed on the wings!
It was a very sensitive butterfly, flying off
as soon as I went near and in desperation, I called for Preston
Murphy, who took this shot of his very famous Glorious Begum, the
very rare Agatasa calydonia calydonia, with telephoto lens.
Within seconds, it was gone, although I spent hours waiting for it
to fly in again.
Every visit to Panti fills me with great
expectation – you never know what you will encounter in its
rainforest. Here, our trail is drained by a few streams, and there
are small patches of swamps. Over several years, I have seen an
abundance of different butterflies, Wanderers one year, and Malayan
Zebras another. Just last August, it was the Rustic’s season, so it
is rather unpredictable. I yearn to see hundreds of butterflies
feeding on the moist, ground, but this has never happened. So I keep
my eyes peeled for the unusual encounter.
On this visit, the sandy trail was wet, after
over-night rain. There by the side were several Blue Bottles feeding
on the moist sand, suddenly joined by a very attractive Orange
Albatross. I zoomed in on the Albatross but it was moving rapidly
jostling for feeding space. Out of nowhere, a big, burly, silvery
white Jewel Nawab flew into the feeding party. Polyura delphis
concha is a rather uncommon butterfly. It has three tails on
each hind wing, the underside decorated with a few blue discal spots
and some yellowish patterns near the tail. The apex in this
individual is greyish. In a white flash, it was gone, and I am still
looking for another individual for a better picture.
This time, I noticed a fallen tree. This meant
that I could access butterflies which like to feed on trees. Sure
enough, a Punchinello Zemeros emesoides emesiodes was
feeding on some small flowers. Dainty and gay, about the size of a
10-cent coin, it was brownish with black bands all over the wings. A
Riodininid, it has the characteristic of settling on leaves with
half-opened wings. Always found singly, this was only the second
Punchinello I have ever encountered in Malaysian forests.
Another small butterfly, Araotes lapithis
uruwela, about half the size of a Common Posy and looking just
like it as well, was feeding on a tree, but came down for a rest. On
its underside, the large white patch on the hindwing and the white
broad stripe on the forewing help to identify this butterfly. Also
rare, it is the only representative of its genus in Peninsular
Malaysia.
Unidentified skipper
|
Burnet moth sp. mimicks a poisonous species of
butterfly. |
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Strangely, the Skippers are not plentiful here.
And because they are not as colourful as the true butterflies, I
have never been diligent and enthusiastic in photographing them.
This early morning however, a large Skipper called the Common Awl,
light brown, with a rather pleasing purplish glaze, almost landed on
me and begged to be photographed. A check with Pendlebury’s book
confirms that Hasora quadripunctata gnaeus, subfamily
Coeliadinae, is very rare.
On several occasions, I encountered a single
day-flying moth feeding on moist spots. It behaved exactly like a
butterfly, even mingling with them. The two shown here are Burnet
moths, belonging to the subfamily Chalcosiinae. Medium in size,
they are often bright and metallic. These two mimicked butterflies
belonging to the poisonous Danaid family, although the turquoise one
did a better job. They were easily photographed, engrossed in their
feeding with the security that no predator would dare eat them.
Unidentified demselfly |
Burnet moth sp. |
|
With so much water here, it was surprising that
both dragonflies and damselflies were not abundant. I have seen an
unusual dragonfly here, but this damselfly, (Megapodagrionidae?)
needs to be described. It is medium in size, and highly attractive.
The abdomen is a rusty red, ringed with blue, with its end curved
upward in a light metallic blue. The hyaline wings are tipped with a
little black. The legs are large and long. It was seen only on two
occasions, and only one or two individuals were present on this bank
of a stream.
Panti’s forest is filled with tiny glittering
gems, and we need only stop and look at them to see their intricate
beauty!
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