the Common Jay (Graphium doson evemonides)

Butterfly Biodata:
Genus: Graphium Scopoli, 1777
Species: doson C & R Felder, 1864
Subspecies: evemonides Honrath, 1884
Wingspan of Adult Butterfly: 50-65mm
Local Caterpillar Host Plants: Desmos chinensis (Annonaceae, common name: Dwarf Ylang Ylang), Michelia alba (Magnoliaceae, common name: White Champaca), Polyathia longifolia var. pendula (Annonaceae, common name: False Ashoka Tree).


A Common Jay found on damp ground.

A Common Jay perching on a leaf.

Physical Description of Adult Butterfly:
As with most Graphium species, the wings are produced at the forewing apex and hindwing tornus, and the inner margin of the hindwing bends inwards. Above, the wings are black with a broad bluish-green macular band running from the sub-apical area of the forewing to the basal area of the hindwing. There is also a series of bluish-green streaks in the cell of the forewing. A series of bluish-green submarginal spots is present in both fore- and hindwings. Underneath, the same spotting pattern can be found against a dark brown base, with the spots larger and more silvery green. Additional red and black spots are featured on the hindwing. There is a dark red-centred costal bar sited right in the silvery middle cross band of the hindwing. In Singapore, the presence of this costal bar is the main distinguishing feature between Common Jay and the more commonly found Blue Jay.

A puddling Common Jay.


A Common Jay perching on a leaf in a hill park.

Field Observations of Butterfly Behaviour: Although the Common Jay is common in neighbouring Malaysia, it has only been recently discovered in Singapore on the offshore island of Pulau Ubin in 2005. It is not listed in the original butterfly checklist for Singapore, and is believed to have migrated from nearby Johor in Malaysia and established its presence in P. Ubin where one of its host plants is available in relative abundance. There has only been one isolated sighting of an individual in mainland Singapore in late 2006. The swift-flying adults haven been sighted visiting flowers, and making ovipositing visits to the host plants. The males of this species can be found puddling along damp foot paths.


A Common Jay perching on a grass blade in an open field.


A male Common Jay.

Early Stages:
With its wide distribution and common occurrence in the region outside Singapore, early stages of the Common Jay have been documented earlier, and its many host plants already identified by researchers and enthusiasts working in these areas. In Singapore, the early stages of the Common Jay feed on young leaves of several plants in the Annonaceae and Magnoliaceae families. One host, Desmos chinensis, grows in relative abundance in P. Ubin and seems to be the host of choice for the Common Jay in that habitat. Eggs and early stages of the Common Jay are typically found on young leaves of this host at low heights.


Local host plant #1, Desmos chinensis (Dwarf Ylang Ylang).


Local host plant #2 : Polyathia longifolia var. pendula (False Ashoka Tree).


A mother Common Jay laying an egg on a young leaf of Desmos chinensis in Pulau Ubin.

The eggs of the Common Jay are laid on young leaves of the host plant on either the upper- or undersides. The spherical egg is initially creamy white with a diameter of about 1.0-1.1mm. As it matures, it gradually turns yellow.

Two views of an egg of the Common Jay.

Two views of a mature egg of the Common Jay. Note the outline of the head capsule and the mandibles which are now visible through the egg shell.


Three views of a newly hatched Common Jay nibbling away at the egg shell. Note the darkening of body color from 1st to 2nd pic.

The egg takes 3-4 days to hatch, and the newly hatched has a body length of about 2.2mm. The entire egg shell is consumed by the newly hatched as its first meal. The body is initially pale yellowish but turning dark brown gradually and this happens even as the egg shell is being consumed. The last abdominal segment is white in color in contrast. A pair of brown lateral spines can be found on each of the three thoracic segments, and another white pair at the anal segment. The body also features rows of short dorsal-lateral tubercles with long setae. The head capsule is yellowish brown.


Two views of a newly hatched Common Jay caterpillar.

Two views of a 1st instar caterpillar, , length: 3.5mm

Between feeds, the Common Jay caterpillar of all instars rests on the upper leaf surface, usually alongside the midrib. After about 3-3.5 days of feeding, the 1st instar caterpillar grows to a length of about 5.5-6mm. The moult to the 2nd instar takes place after a period of inactivity.

A first instar caterpillar found resting on the upperside midrib of a young leaf of Desmos chinensis in the field.

In the 2nd instar, the thoracic segments are much enlarged from the 2nd to 3rd segment. The thoracic and anal pairs of spines are rather drastically reduced in size in proportion to the body. Between them, the prothoracic pair is longer compared to the other two. The head capsule is still yellowish brown but has an increase in orange tone. The body remains dark brown throughout this instar and the sub-spiracular area of the abdominal segments are whitish. This instar lasts for 1.5-2 days, and has the body length increased up to about 8mm.

Two views of a 2nd instar caterpillar, late in this stage, length: 7.2mm


Field shots of a 2nd instar Common Jay caterpillar on the same leaf over the course of 2 hours.
Left: resting on the midrib near its 1st feeding site; Right: feeding at a 2nd site.

The 3rd instar caterpillar resembles the 2nd instar caterpillar closely. The head capsule is orangy brown at this stage. In about 3 days, the caterpillar grows to about 15mm in length before the moult to the 4th instar takes place.


Two views of a 3rd instar caterpillar, length: 12mm.

The body of the 4th instar caterpillar is initially dark brown soon after moulting but turning much paler yellowish brown for most part of this instar. The caterpillar has a pale orangy brown head capsule, and the base of the metathoracic pair of splines is vaguely encircled in ring of yellow or pale brown. The dark thoracic pairs of spines also take on a bluish sheen when viewed at certain perspectives. Now the sub-spiracular area of all body segments are whitish to varying extent. This instar lasts about 3-4 days with the body length reaching about 24mm.


Two views of a newly moulted 4th instar caterpillar, eating its exuvia, length: 15mm.


Two views of a 4th instar caterpillar, length: 23mm.

A Common Jay caterpillar moulting to its final (5th) instar.

The 5th instar caterpillar resembles the late 4th instar caterpillar, but with the metathoracic pair of splines larger and more prominently marked with a black-outlined yellow to yellowish brown ring at the base, and the mesothoracic pair minuscule or even absent. The last abdominal segment is no longer white but follows the same coloration as the other segments. Each of the two anal splines is still whitish but takes on a black stripe on its outer edge. Soon after moulting, the body color is yellowish brown. In some individuals, the body soon changes to a green to dull green coloration, whilst others remain yellowish brown until in the last day of this instar before the color change takes place. The 5th instar lasts for 4-5 days, and the body length reaches 39-44mm.


Two views of a 5th instar caterpillar, early in this stage, length: 24mm.


Two views of a 5th instar caterpillar, yellowish brown form, length: 28mm.


Two views of a 5th instar caterpillar, green form, length: 35mm.

Toward the end of the 5th instar, the body gradually shortens in length and turns completely pale greenish. The caterpillar wanders around for a pupation site and eventually comes to rest on one spot of a leaf in an upright position. Here the caterpillar prepares and secures itself with a a silk pad and a silk girdle.

A 5th instar Common Jay caterpillar found in the field.

Two views of a pre-pupatory larva of the Common Jay.
Pupation takes place a day later. The pupa is pale yellowish green, about 27-30mm in length and has a slender and obtusely pointed mesothoracic horn. There are two short and blant cephalic horns. The abdomen has two dorsal carinae which are whitish to pale yellowish and run laterally and continuously to the tip of the mesothoracic horn.

The pupation event of a Common Jay caterpillar.

Two views of a pupa of the Common Jay.

The pupal period lasts for 9 days, and the pupa turns black in the wing pads the night before eclosion. The bluish-green spots on the forewings are visible through the pupal skin at this stage. The adult butterfly emerges the next morning to commence the adult phase of its life cycle.

Two views of a mature Common Jay pupa.

The eclosion event of a Common Jay butterfly.

A newly eclosed Common Jay clinging on to its pupal case.

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, 1st Edition, 2006

Text by Horace Tan, Photos by Sunny Chir, Khew SK and Horace Tan
Special thanks to Prof Hugh Tan, Department of Biological Sciences, NUS, and a NParks staff at Ubin for their kind assistance in providing ID for the host plant, Desmos chinensis.

The Chocolate Albatross (Appias lyncida vasava)

Around this time two years ago in 2010, the region faced a period of very low rainfall, and Singapore experienced one of its driest months in 140 years, where there was only 6.3 mm of rain for the whole month! Subsequently, just three months later, floods hit Orchard Road, a major shopping belt in Singapore, on 16 Jun 2010, with 100mm of rain inundating the island in just two hours!

Now in 2012, the weather is uncharacteristically wet for the month of March, with heavy rains falling on a few days of every week - often with heavy thunderstorms that brought heavy rainfall all over the island. The meteorological station's radar map below on a typical rainy morning on 14 Mar shows the entire region stretching from the Indonesian islands of Batam and Bintan across to Singapore, and to large parts of southern Johor in Malaysia blanketed with heavy precipitation.

The flower of the month for March is the Daffodil (Narcissus spp.). The flower is a spring blooming bulb. The traditional Daffodil is a ring of light golden or white petals with a trumpet shaped center of a darker contrasting shade of gold/yellow.

The Daffodil is used prominently for decorating during the Chinese New Year in both China and festivals celebrating this holiday around the world. Daffodils are poisonous and can be harmful or even deadly if eaten.

March is traditionally the start of the butterfly season in parts of peninsula Malaysia and Singapore, where numbers of butterflies typically increase, peaking in May or June. However, with the changes in weather, it is yet to be observed if the butterfly season will be delayed somewhat.

As the numbers of butterflies increase during this time of the year, some species are known to migrate in numbers across parts of Malaysia. Some species of Pieridae, which are not normally resident in Singapore, fly southwards and occasionally make their appearance in the Garden City. One such species, is the Chocolate Albatross (Appias lyncida vasava) our Butterfly of the Month for March 2012.

The Chocolate Albatross is common in Malaysia, and seasonally seen in abundance. On some occasions, we have observed up to 50 or more individuals puddling at damp sandy spots along river banks in the forests. The species is not a resident species in Singapore, but records have shown that the Chocolate Albatross appears in Singapore in some years, only to be totally absent and not sighted at all in other years.

When the butterfly appears (past records indicate that it is almost always observed in the months of March to May of certain years), it can be seen as far south as the Central Catchment forests within the reservoir parks of Upper Seletar, MacRitchie and Lower Peirce. Moreover, several individuals are encountered together, either puddling or flying around flowering plants. In one instance, a female was recorded from the Sime Forest area of the Central Catchment Nature Reserve.



The butterfly is skittish, and a fast flyer, like its close relative, the Striped Albatross (Appias libythea olferna), a common species in Singapore. The male Chocolate Albatross is white on the upperside, with dentate black marginal borders on the fore and hind wings.

The hindwing beneath is a rich lemon yellow with a dark brown border on both the fore- and hindwings. In Malaysia, large congregations of the males of this species are often encountered puddling, often in the company of other Pierids, Nymphalids and Papilionids.

Females are much rarer, and typically found feeding at flowers along the forest edge. They appear almost medium grey, as the upperside is heavily black dusted with a few broad white streaks, whilst the underside is grey with the hindwing dusted with yellow, with the veins prominently marked.

Both sexes have been observed to sunbathe with their wings partially opened on the top surfaces of leaves in the early hours of the morning, or on bright sunny days in the late afternoon. Males also sunbathe on nearby bushes especially after a long bout of puddling and have had their fill of nutrients.



Puddling Chocolate Albatrosses.

And as the month of March moves to a close, we end this blog article with a video clip shot by ButterflyCircle member Loke PF, of a congregation of Chocolate Albatrosses, flying in and out of the frame as they puddle and jostle for the best spots to sip their life-sustaining nutrients from the damp sandy bank. This video clip was shot at Fraser's Hill, Malaysia.

Text by Khew SK : Video clip by Loke PF : Photos by Chng CK, Goh LC, Khew SK, Loke PF, Anthony Wong & Benjamin Yam

Posted by Commander at 7:00 PM

Little Known Truths About Beautiful Butterflies

Butterfly, Butterflies, Winged Wonders - Kevin Cole

Butterflies are one of the joys of nature, and many gardeners work diligently to attract them to their gardens. Just how fascinating are these insects?

Wildlife in the garden has always been a worthwhile goal. Birds are garden favorites. And so are those winged wonders, butterflies. But before attempting to attract butterflies to the garden, it pays to find out a little about them.
What are some of the things that make butterflies special?

Butterfly Facts

• In North America alone, there are over 700 species of butterfly. World wide, there are around 24,000 species. Most all of these are beneficial insects.
• Some butterflies are tiny, like the Pygmy Blue, a half-inch wonder found in Southern California. Compare that one to the female Queen Alexandra's Birdwing of New Guinea, a giant with a ten inch wing spread.
• While most butterflies are short lived, the Brimstone can live up to 10 months. The average live of a butterfly - about one month. Smaller insects will usually have shorter lifespans.
• Butterflies have color vision - they can see red, green and yellow.
• Cocoons are for moths. Butterflies don't produce one. Metamorphosis takes place in the chrysalis, which is the hardened outer skin of the pupa. This skin protects the pupa during its "change of life".

Butterfly Eating Habits

• Butterflies taste with their feet. These feet (called "larsi") sense sweet things like nectar and sugar water. When the larsi contacts these sweet substances, the butterfly's proboscis automatically uncoils. Butterfly larsi can also identify leaves suitable for laying eggs and as food for the butterfly's caterpillars.
• A butterfly appears to eat with its nose. But not really. Their eating appendage (called a proboscis) is not really a nose, but a tube-shaped, straw-like mouth part. Butterflies use their proboscis to suck up sugary sweet liquids, like nectar and fruit juices. Butterflies like to slurp up liquids from rotten fruit slices, like overripe bananas or watermelon.
• Native plants and butterflies are co-dependent. They've evolved together, native plants supplying delicious, nutritious nectar in return for the butterfly's pollination services. Many native or naturalized flowers, like certain daylilies, are also butterfly favorites.
• Butterfly caterpillars are voracious eaters. From the time the egg hatches to when they pupate (or form chrysalis), a caterpillar might increase in size more than 30,000 times. Imagine an elephant doing that!
• Butterflies need two types of plants to set up housekeeping in a garden - a food source for their caterpillars (who eat only leaves), and a food source for adult butterflies (nectar or fruit producers).

The Butterfly - Winged Wonder

• What makes a butterfly shimmer in radiant color? Millions of specialized scales in their wings overlap like shingles. Light striking these scales produces colorful patterns. Some of these hues are metallic and iridescent, created by faceted scales refracting light. More solid colors come from pigmented scales.
• Without these overlapping scales, a butterfly's wings would appear transparent. It's the scales that give the butterflies their characteristic colors.
• Gossamer Wings are a group of butterflies that includes the blues, elfins and hairstreaks. Their chrysalises (or pupae) can generate weak sounds by rubbing and flexing body segment membranes together. These sounds may be created to scare off small predators or parasites.
• Some butterflies are migratory. Monarch butterflies travel from the Great Lake region to the Gulf of Mexico - about 2000 miles - and return north in the spring.

Butterflies are wondrous insects, both functional as pollinators and aesthetically appealing. Their fluttering, colorful flight from flower to flower is a joy to behold. Knowing the facts about butterflies is the first step in attracting these beneficial insects to the garden.

How to Create a Butterfly Garden

Butterfly Puddling - Eithebidar

When a flower garden is created to meet the needs of food, soil moisture, sunshine and breeding, the butterflies will come.

Plant it and they will come. Butterflies, also known as flying flowers because of their colorful beauty, have a few basic needs: food, soil moisture, sunshine and a breeding area that will provide safety and food for their offspring. Planting a flower garden that will meet all these basic needs (which is easy to do) the butterflies will come.

Butterfly Food

A butterfly’s main food source is flower nectar. Creating a garden that will have a variety of flowers that bloom all summer long will keep the butterflies returning time and time again throughout the summer. Butterflies land on the flower to feed on the nectar; flower that have flat blooms, like daisies and coneflowers, provide a landing pad for the butterflies to rest on while they feed.

Butterflies also like to feed on rotting fruit and fresh cow manure. Placing an occasional piece of fruit that is past its prime in the butterfly garden will attract butterflies in for a feast. A scoop of fresh cow manure in the vicinity of the flower garden (but not too close to plants, fresh cow manure can burn plants) will also entice butterflies to visit. The cow manure will also add nutrients to the soil as it decomposes.

Butterfly Puddling

Butterflies have a need for minerals which they obtain through the soil. Butterflies will congregate on a mud puddle, wet soil or wet sand to absorb the needed minerals. This is called puddling. Create an inviting puddling location for the butterflies by creating a low-lying spot in the garden and keeping it moist at all times. An easy way to create a puddling spot in the garden is to sink a shallow container, like a pie pan, up to the rim in the garden soil, then fill the container with soil or sand and add water.

Sunshine for the Solar Panel Wings

Before a butterfly can take to the air in flight each day, it must warm its body and charge up its solar panel wings by spending some time in the sunshine. This is why butterflies are often seen in the early morning hours resting on rocks with wings spread open, they are absorbing the sunshine. Adding a few rocks or a rock border that faces east and will be in direct sunlight during the morning hours in a flower garden will provide the perfect location for butterflies to warm themselves and recharge their solar panel wings.

Host Plants for Offspring

Butterflies need host plants that will provide a safe location for laying eggs and food for the emerging larvae and developing caterpillars. Flowers that are native to the region are the prime choices as host plants. Add a few native flowers or create a native flower garden for easy care butterfly attraction.
When a flower garden is created to meet the needs of food, soil moisture, sunshine and breeding, the butterflies will come.

The Blue Pansy (Junonia orithya wallacei)

Butterfly Biodata:
Genus: Junonia Hübner, 1819
Species: orithya Linnaeus, 1758
Subspecies: wallacei Distant, 1883
Wingspan of Adult Butterfly: 40-55mm
Caterpillar Local Host Plant: Asystasia gangetica (Acanthaceae)


A Blue Pansy perching on a flower giving a view of its wing underside.


A sunbathing female Blue Pansy showing its wing upperside.

Physical Description of Adult Butterfly:
Above, the forewing for the male is black to dark brown with a whitish sub-apical band, two orange and two blue bars in the cell, and two post-discal eye-spots in spaces 2 and 5. The hindwing of the male is brilliant blue with an orange post-discal eye-spot in space 2 and a much smaller dark post-discal spot in space 5. The female is similarly marked but with a much duller hue. The post-discal eye-spots in spaces 2 and 5 on the hindwing are much larger than in the male. Underneath, both sexes are grayish brown with cryptic orange/brown markings and have eye-spots similarly placed as on the upperside.

A sunbathing male Blue Pansy displaying its upperside.


Another female Blue Pansy.

Field Observations of Butterfly Behaviour: This species is relatively common in Singapore, although much less so than its cousins, the Chocolate Pansy and the Peacock Pansy. The adults can be occasionally be found in parks and gardens, but more often in open grassy wastelands. They tend to visit tiny flowers growing in grassy areas, and sunbathe with wings fully open. The flight is rapid and typically done in a gliding fashion.

A female Blue Pansy.


A newly eclosed female Blue Pansy with a view of its wing underside.

Early Stages:
The caterpillars of the Blue Pansy feed mainly on leaves of its local host plant, Asystasia gangetica, which is a very common weed in wastelands, fringes of nature reserves and strips of land left untended for a period of time.


Local host plant: Asystasia gangetica.

The eggs of the Blue Pansy are laid singly on the young leaves or shoots of the host plant or other plants in the vicinity. The greenish egg is somewhat globular in shape but with a blunt top. Twelve raised ridges run from this top end to the base of the egg. Each egg has a diameter of about 0.6-0.7mm.

Two views of an egg of the Blue Pansy. Diameter: 0.6-0.7mm.

Two views of a mature egg of the Blue Pansy.

The egg takes about 2.5-3 days to hatch. The young caterpillar emerges by making an exit by eating away part of the egg shell. The rest of the egg shell becomes the first meal for the caterpillar. The initial length of the newly hatched is about 1.3mm. The cylindrical and pale yellowish green body is covered with many small dark-colored tubercles. Long dark setae emanate from those tubercles occurring dorso-laterally and laterally. The head capsule is black.

Two views of a newly hatched caterpillar, length: 1.3mm.

The 1st instar caterpillar feeds on the lamina of young leaves and it has a preference for the very young leaves of an emerging shoot. After reaching about 3mm in 2-3 days, the caterpillar moults to the 2nd instar.

Two views of a 1st instar caterpillar, late in this stage, length: 3mm.

The body of the 2nd instar caterpillar is mostly dark brown on all segments except for the prothoracic segment which is orange in color. Moderately long and branched dark brownish processes run along the length of the body. Fine setae emanate from these processes and from other small tubercles on the body surface. The head capsule is still entirely black. This instar lasts about 2-2.5 days with the body length reaching about 5mm.

Two views of a 2nd instar caterpillar, newly moulted, length: 2.9mm


Two views of a 2nd instar caterpillar, late in this stage, length: 5mm

The 3rd instar caterpillar has proportionately longer dorso-lateral and lateral processes which are dark brown to black in color as is the case for the body ground colour. This instar takes about 2 days to complete with body length reaching about 9.5mm.

Two views of a 3rd instar caterpillar, early in this stage, length: 6mm.


Two views of a 3rd instar caterpillar, length: 8mm.

The 4th instar caterpillar closely resembles the 3rd instar caterpillar, except for the proportionately longer body processes and the change to orange color for the frons at the front of the head capsule. The 4th instar lasts about 3 days with the body length reaching about 13mm.

Two views of a 4th instar caterpillar, length: 11mm.


A ``alarmed'' 4th instar caterpillar displaying its kung-fu stance, length: 11mm.

Two views of a 4th instar caterpillar, late in this stage, length: 13mm. Inset: head capsule.

The 5th (and penultimate) instar caterpillar is similar to the 4th instar caterpillar. One discernible difference is in the head capsule which has an expanded presence of orange markings on the lateral and top sides. Two small and short black apical cephalic horns are now easily discernible. This instar lasts for about 3 days, and the body length increases rather dramatically and reaches up to 22.5mm. As it lies dormant prior to its moult, lateral orange markings appear at the base of various tubercles.

A 5th instar caterpillar, early in this stage, length: 13mm. Inset: head capsule.

Two views of a 5th instar caterpillar, late in this stage, length: 22.5mm.


A late 5th instar caterpillar in a dormant stage prior to the moult to the next instar.

The 6th (and final) instar caterpillar is structurally similar to the 5th instar caterpillar but with several changes in markings and coloration. Now the body processes are black with a bluish sheen. The base of the sub-spiracular row of tubercles are orange, and are linked with a series of intermittent white streaks. The lateral row of tubercles are lined with white streaks on most of the abdominal segments. The head capsule is now mostly orange and has two small black patches flanking the frons.

Two views of a 6th instar caterpillar, length: 31.5mm.


Two views of a 6th instar caterpillar, late in this stage, length: 44mm.

A 6th instar caterpillar found in the field on its host plant.

The 6th instar lasts for 4-5 days, and the body length reaches up to 45mm. The caterpillar ceases feeding and wanders around. Eventually it stops at a spot on the underside of a leaf, young shoot/stem and spins a silk pad from which it hangs vertically to take on the pre-pupatory pose.

A pre-pupa of the Blue Pansy. 

The pupation event of a Blue Pansy caterpillar.

Pupation takes place about 0.5 days later. The pupa suspends itself from the silk pad with no supporting silk girdle. It is mainly dark brown, but pale brown in wing pads and on the ventrum. Whitish bands runs on the dorsum near the cremaster and mid-abdomen. There is a series of dorso-lateral pairs of very short and pointed processes, one pair to each segment. The dorsum is slightly raised at the mesothorax. Length of pupae: 17-19mm.

Three views of a pupa of the Blue Pansy.

Three views of a mature pupa of the Blue Pansy.

After about 6 days of development, the pupal skin of the mature pupa turns translucent and the pupa turns dark brown to black as a result. Patches of orangy brown can also be noticed in the wing pad. The adult butterfly emerges from the pupa the next day.

The eclosion event of a Blue Pansy caterpillar.

A newly eclosed Blue Pansy resting on its pupal case.

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, 1st Edition, 2006
• A Field Guide to the Butterflies of Singapore, Khew S.K., Ink On Paper Communications, 2010.