Tajuria Dominus!!!

Just about a week ago, I chanced upon an unusual looking

pupa. It resembles the pupa of the white royal, but a few

of the patterns where different. When it finally eclosed at about

11.30, it turned out to be the rare tajuria dominus.

The patterns on the abdomen were completely pale brown

with mottled spots, unlike the white royal where the abdomen

section is white with diffused yellow patches. When it finally came

out, it revealed its beautiful shimmering wings. The deep black

visual brand was very obvious.

Here is another shot of the newly eclosed butterfly showing

off his iridescent upperside.

When his wings had dried and straightened out, he

looked very much like the tajuria dominus.

This royal was discovered in an urban park in 2006.

Sightings of it since then have been few and far between.

It is the smallest tajuria species here in Singapore, and also the

rarest. This is a good sign that they are still hanging in there

and surviving in Singapore.

The End.

A quick walk at SBG

Today, after the Biodiversity Festival and the launch of

the amazing new caterpillar book by ButterflyCircle's Mr Horace

Tan and Mr Khew Sin Khoon, I finally felt the urge to get back out to

shoot. We decided to check out the newly completed side of SBG at

the Botanics MRT station. Not far from the entrance, we spotted a

group of bamboo tree browns at the bamboo clumps.

They were so hard to track, flying in and out of the thick bamboo

growths then landing deep in the undergrowth, and even harder

to photograph. The bamboo tree brown is an uncommon species

here. When I was trying to nail them, there were many

common palmflies that 'distracted' me. This is a male.

The most surprising encounter, however was this common

duffer. Contrary to what the name suggests, the duffer is very

rare here. I was shocked to see it there, and even more surprised

to see how large it was, since this was the first time I spotted one.

This is my pathetic record shot.

It was tattered and skittish but I was still really happy

to see this magnificent butterfly.

The End.

Behind my house

I have not been posting very often lately. The weather hasn't

been very predictable either, but the butterfly activity is definitely

picking up. Even though I couldn't go out to shoot, I managed to

find a few common butterflies just outside my house. This is a

pristine chestnut bob resting on a blade of cow grass, its caterpillar

host plant.

It was very tame and stood still for a few photos.

The second, a pale grass blue, was settling down to rest

for the night. The fading light and the swarming mosquitoes

made her really hard to nail. This was one of the few

sharper shots I managed of this abundant little critter.

Well that's all I have for now, hopefully I will be able

to get out to photograph more butterflies soon.

The End.

Common Posy

When I walk into any forest here in Singapore, it is

usually quite hard to avoid these little fellas. The common

posy is abundant here. They always seem to flit around

close to the ground, and are very wary. The slightest movements

scare them off!

The male common posy has dark brown forewings above,

but the hindwings are a bright shimmering blue. The

females are pale brown on top with a blueish tornal

( where the tails are ) area. They are often seen sunbathing

in the late afternoon. They also like to drink the sweet sap of

the young leea indica shoots.

The End.