Philippines Blog

[Tony Moore]

D.pasithoe is not present on Luzon. So henningia it has to be. Guy is spot on, as usual

No transect today - 'she who must be obeyed' wanted a shopping trip . Hope for more tomorrow.

Tony M.

[Tony Moore]

No new species today, but I did catch up with a female Chocolate Albatross, which was rather spoiled by the bright sunshine.

Also managed a open wing shot of a female Ancyra Blue. The males often sit with open wings, but the ladies very rarely:

I finish with a pair of Skips from a couple of days ago.

I've been waiting for a ID and thought the reply worth posting in full.

Dr Seow wrote:
It should be Potanthus pava.

The Potanthus found in Luzon are P. mingo, niobe, fettingi, hetaerus & pava.
P. mingo , hetaerus, & niobe can be discounted by various features.
P. fettingi is little known but somewhat resembles the common P. omaha here.

P. pava always have a large spot 6 on both sides of the HW.
(If you look at the male on the right, the HW has a band (comprising spots 1-5) joined to spot 6 & then spot 7.)
The upperside FW tends to have the spots joined continuously. (Hard to judge this on the underside.)

http://old.hkbutterfly.org/images/Potanthus_pava.jpg

Other genera like Taractrocera, Telicota, & Cephrenes lack the HW spot 7 & often spot 6 as well.

Tony M.

[Tony Moore]

Good day, today. Started with a very obliging 'Gull' :

I then caught up - just - with White Albatross Appias alba.

Sorry about the pic, it was the best I could do - it was very jumpy. Persil should use these in their ads! The purity of the white is astonishing.

Then found a little Lycaenid, which I believe is Petrelaea dana the Dingy Line Blue.

Nothing riveting, although I did see a blackish Papilion disappear into the distance, but a good day.

Tony M.

[NickMorgan]

Fantastic. What an amazing variety of butterflies you are seeing there. I really enjoy reading about them.

[Tony Moore]

Thanks, Nick.

It really is an amazing place. I go out most mornings at about 08.30, for about two hours. Most of the bits of secondary forest are no more than five acres or so. I cannot believe how many species I am finding on a small hilltop surrounded by two cities and impossible pollution. I really hope the University will publish a paper of my efforts .
Four days on Palawan from Thursday, so maybe Trogonoptera....

Tony.

[Tony Moore]

Perfect morning, broken cloud diffusing bright sunshine, and no wind. Plenty flying around, but it is becoming more difficult to find new species. There are plenty of Common Grass Yellows about, but on a couple of occasions, I've seen a very small (like 32/34mm ws) 'yellow'. I was lucky today to shoot this:

I thought it might have been the Tree Yellow Gandaca harina, on account of it flew stright up into a tree after this pic . However, current thinking is that it is a Eurema species. I'm now waiting to hear from Dr Seow for a final judgement.

Nearly home when I saw this:

It was absolutely fresh, and suffused with a wonderful greenish gold. It is the Formosan Swift Borbo cinnara.

So, two new ones today - can't be bad .

Palawan tomorrow,

Tony M.

[Padfield]

Hi Tony,

What a wonderful time you are having - and we are having by proxy!

I won't venture an opinion on the Eurema, as that's sub judice at the moment ( ), but I'd be interested to know why your Petrelaea dana, from the previous post, isn't Prosotas dubiosa. I'm not saying you're wrong - just that I'd like to know what the critical criteria were. My Indian book rather unhelpfully points to the position of the pd spots in s.2 on the underside of the forewing, which are hidden in all natural poses, as definitive for dana!

Guy

[Tony Moore]

Guy,

Just off to the airport - will look into dana when I'm back. Yellow is Eurema alitha jalendra..

Tony.

[Tony Moore]

Guy,

Of course it's P. dubiosa Not sure about the Prosotas, but the dubiosa certainly reflects my ID skills.

Thanks for your gentle help, once again.

Some from Palawan tomorrow...

Tony.

[NickMorgan]

Eurema are among my favourite butterflies, so I thought I would have a try at identifying yours. According to the web site I looked at there are 11 different species in the Philippines. I had a look at images of all of them and found it really difficult to differentiate between them. Eurema alitha wasn't one of my options! I am in awe of people who are able to identify all of the species you have shown on your blog! Sometimes it is good to live in a county where only 23 species of butterflies exist!

[Tony Moore]

Thanks, Nick - my sentiments entirely.
I thought you might be interested to see the reply from Dr Seow, concerning the Eurema:

"
You have Eurema alitha jalendra.

Note the inner margin of the FW black border.
It makes a gentler curve than the sharp right-angle of H. hecabe in the upper part.
The excavated portions in space 2 & 3 also tend to be more rounded.

E. alitha is closely related to E. hecabe & have similar markings on the underside. The upperside border varies widely in extent.
The FW usually have 2 cellspots as in E. hecabe but in poorly marked forms, one or both may be missing.

Compare the black border with E, hecabe.(Singapore)
http://www.butterflycircle.com/check...0KHEW%20SK.jpg

E. alitha from Papua (similar to ssp. jalendra but excavated part sharper.)
http://www.papua-insects.nl/insect%2...Bm%5Dklein.jpg
http://www.papua-insects.nl/insect%2...20verso%5D.jpg ".

Expertise or what?

Just off for my transect - Palawan later..

Tony.

[Tony Moore]

I think that Palawan is the most beautiful place that I have ever visited. Spectacular mountains, primary rainforest, stunning beaches, clean air and few people. It is also a butterfly watcher's paradise. We were staying on the edge of a 22,000 hectare reserve and, on our first morning took the local transport up to the Ranger Station:

We trekked into the forest, with a guide, and were soon seeing large numbers of butts. Most gave no chance of a shot, but I was lucky with this Common Jay (I think)...

The scenery was absolutely stunning:

A little further on, my wife spotted this:

Absolutely no idea what it is . If no one has any ideas, I'll shoot it past the Singapore guys.

Sadly, no sign of Trogonoptera, although we did see several other 'birdwings'. Surprisingly, only one Lycaenid - a Common Caerulean and no Skippers. Because we failed with Rajah Brookes, the guide, in typical Filipino fashion, had to offer an excuse. ''Wrong time of day sir! better before 8 am!! or after 3pm.'' Against my better judgement, I accepted this and, two days later was on my way into the forest shortly after dawn. Of course, we saw just about nothing - surprise, surprise! A couple of Bush Browns and a Grey Pansy or two. By 9am, when I had to return, stuff started to appear. An otherwise blank day was saved by this:

An Archduke Lexias pardalis ssp something or other. The orange tops to the antennae tips are clearly visible - the only sure way to separate it from the Black Tipped Archduke L. dirtea.

I returned to the hotel to join my wife for a late breakfast, when this flew past our table and landed not two metres away!

It seemed settled, so I tore back to the room for the camera, leaving my wife 'on guard'. By some miracle, it was still in situ. Pretty sure it is one of the incarnations of the Great Mormon Papilio memnon, but I have been unable to find a similar photograph.

Later in the day I found this:

Obviously a Danainid, but, so far, I've been unable to match the pattern exactly. Guy?? It was a pretty common species in our area.

Wonderful island - tough I didn't have about ten years there. .

Tony M.

[Padfield]

Every so often you wonder if taxonomists are having a bit of a joke! There should certainly be no difficulty remembering that dirtea has the dirtier antennae ...

I believe your Danaid is Danaus melanippus - a very striking butterfly I would love to see!

Your Papilio looks very like lowi, if that is a possibility on the island where you saw it. As you say, there is enormous variation within these species and appearances can be very misleading!

Guy

[Vince Massimo]

Great photos and stories, Tony

Your blue butterfly looks like Parthenos sylvia. It comes in blue and brown forms and there are many sub-species http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthenos_sylvia . I only know it from encounters in butterfly houses and would love to see it in the wild.

Vince

[Chris Jackson]

Impressive photos Tony. Great butterflies and a stunning view - paradise on Earth.
Chris

P.S. The front tyre could do with a bit of air.

[Tony Moore]

Thanks Vince,

I didn't realise there was a blue form. I'd looked at the brown form, which appeared dead right for wing shape, pattern, etc. - obviously the beast!

Guy, once again spot on with lowi and the Danainid - Danaus melanippus edmondii..

P. lowi is present on Palawan ( as this photo proves, sans question. ).

Back to UK next week - not a happy thought...

Tony M.

[Tony Moore]

Weather at night has become significantly cooler over the last week (like you can sleep at night covered in a sheet without the AC on!). This seems to have caused a big reduction in butterfly numbers - it's becoming increasingly difficult to find anything new. I thought I'd found new 'Albatross' a couple of days ago:

It turned out to be a small, non-stripey version of the Striped Albatross Appias olferna peducaea. .

Spent most of the last two outings camped out by a small area of bush, where a few, unrecognised Lycaenids were whizzing around. I got half a shot, which narrowed it to Catochrysops strabo or panormus. Yesterday, I finally found a dozy one, which proved to be strabo.

The costal spot on the forewing underside is half way between the cell spot and the post-discal fascia. In panormus this spot is very close to, or touching the post-discal band. (not a lot of people know that ).

Another shot:

Tony M.

[Tony Moore]

This will be my last post from the Philippines (Last Post??..... Cue bugler!), as I return to UK tomorrow .

Thank you to everyone who has commented on my efforts, and a special thanks to Guy Padfield, whose gentle expertise has kept me on the straight and narrow, when flights of fancy were in danger of taking over.

It has been quite wonderful to be somewhere where there is almost always a butterfly in the air, where ever you look. My wife (the bread winner - I should be so lucky), is now actively looking for a position in South-East Asia, so we may well be out here again before long...

Hope that I've managed to brighten a few dull winter days - I'll post a species list in due course.

Happy hunting,

Tony M.

[Chris Jackson]

Hope that I've managed to brighten a few dull winter days

You certainly have Tony. Thanks, it was very refreshing. Given the UK weather, I wouldn't bother rushing home if I was you.
Chris

[Padfield]

I think I probably am gentle, but I'm no expert, Tony! I've really enjoyed this chance for a bit of tropical butterflying by proxy and look forward to your wife's full time job in South-East Asia!

It will be strange for you to come home, but nothing you might see in the tropics could possibly beat that first orange tip of spring, prospecting for females along a British country lane ...

Guy