Southeastern Asian Butterflies

[Paul K]

Argyreus hyperbius hyperbius

This Fritillary could be confined to temperate parts of the world but it is inhabiting mountains of northern Thailand.
it is uncommon species as I found it only once at one location in Chiang Dao near Chiang Mai.
In mountains of peninsular Thailand it is replaced by subspecies A.hyperbius lates.

[Paul K]

Vanessa cardui

Very well known butterfly to every entomologist. It also inhabits peaks of mountains over 1600m in Northern Thailand. It is rather uncommon here. I couldn't say if those specimens are migrants from Northern Asia or they are permanent colonies. More study should be done thru out the year to evaluate this. I personally saw only once two specimens in March enjoying sunny day in the open field and garden high-up where temperature is very comfortable now ranging around 20-24C comparing to lowland hot 38C surrounding those peaks. 

[wollastoni]

Northern Thailand, 1600m, March... have a look for the elusive Delias agoranis !
One of the rarest continental Delias species !

www.delias-butterflies.com/groups/species-groups/singhapura-group/delias-agoranis/

[Paul K]

Mar 23, 2017 14:54:30 GMT wollastoni said:

Northern Thailand, 1600m, March... have a look for the elusive Delias agoranis !
One of the rarest continental Delias species !

www.delias-butterflies.com/groups/species-groups/singhapura-group/delias-agoranis/

Years ago D.agoranis was not rare in Doi Suthep, but it despaired there probably due to lost of the food plant, this mountain is getting drier.
I think the good mountains are still in Doi Pha Hom Pok and there is a chance to find there, but it is very rare. I always check those white/yellow Delias but they so far turn to be all D.agostina 

[Adam Cotton]

I heard that actually D. agoranis was also found at low elevation on Doi Suthep, and when I was discussing this species with Prasobsuk Sukkit recently he said that he found it at Tad Xai Waterfall (on flowers at the top of the main waterfall) which is about 300m asl.

I agree with Paul, probably the species has become either very rare or extinct on Doi Suthep due to changes in the habitat. This past year has been much drier than previous, partly due to the El Nino of 2014-16, but the rainy season (June-October) after El Nino was over still was noticably drier than normal. Unusually the streams at my house and farm were already dry in late February. Until 2 years ago the stream at my farm never ran dry, and the stream behind my house would only run dry in mid to late April for a couple of weeks before the rains normally start in early May.

Adam.

[wollastoni]

Interesting points guys.

agoranis is very rare in collections and very few where found in those last years. The only specimen I heard about is the one found by Sukkit which is now in Turlin coll near Paris.

True that Thailand is drier than in the past... El Nino + huge deforestation do this... even some part of Amazonia looks very dry now due to deforestation... sad

[deliasfanatic]

It seems to have been a rarity for many years. I've sought it since the early 1980s with no luck - at the time, the only person I knew to have it was Fred Gerrits.

[Adam Cotton]

I think Prasobsuk Sukkit must have found it in Tad Xai Waterfall a number of years ago, possibly back in the late 1990s. I forgot to say in my previous post that this locality is in Thabok, Laos, about 90 km east of Vientiane along the Mekong valley.

Here's a small version of a photo I took of the locality in April 2006. Mr. Sukkit said he found D. agoranis on flowers at the top of the waterfall which you can see in the background of the picture.



Adam.

[wollastoni]

Grimaldi and Collard were there last week to find agoranis but didn't find any unfortunately.
Another rare Delias may fly in Thailand and Laos : Delias vietnamensis, several expeditions have looked for it without finding it for the moment.

[Paul K]

Very often mountainous species can be found in the valleys below as they fly down to the streams.
I found in Doi Suthep Graphium agetes at 500m.
In Doi Saket mountain range which are around 1500m I found G.cloanthus at 700m and it says that this species inhabits high elevations around 2000m.
However some species never leave the top of the hill, I believe those with less desired to drink minearals from streams, like some Lycaenidae and Nymphalidae.

[Paul K]

Stibochiona nicea subucula

This species is not known to many entomologist so it may be something interesting. 
It belongs to subfamily Cyrestinae which falls into Nymphalidae family.
This species inhabits again mountains of Thailand and I found it at one location in Northern Thailand near Myanmar (Burma) boarder. It is quite common there. You may ask why most of butterfly population is in the mountains, the answer is very simple. Most of the forest in lowlands are gone and converted to agriculture, the only remnants of primary forests in Thailand are in national parks which are covering what ever is forest left now and 90% that is mountains, but don't get me wrong, many mountain areas has been deforested and converted to some sort of plantation too. Fortunately there are still some good forests here and I hope it will stay this way.

[Paul K]

Cigaritis seliga

Locally common mountainous  species of Lycaenidae family.
Please note the specimen on the photo has got afraid of my camera and positioned its self upside down and exposed the tails which are mimics of the head with antennas. Very effective strategy as I have encountered many specimens attacked by the bird or other animal prey on insects and they were missing large chunks of the hindwings although still alive and be able to reproduce.

[Paul K]

Polyura jalysus jalysus

Another species of Charaxinae subfamily commonly can be observed in the forests near streams while mud puddling.

Habitat: deciduous dipterocarp forest.

[Paul K]

Delias berinda yedanula

Mountainous species of Delias can be found in Northern Thailand and Laos above 1600m. There are five very similar species in this genus inhabit mountains in Thailand.




And there are more ! Nice gathering isn't it.




Habitat: evergreen mountain forest

[Paul K]

Delias belladonna hedybia

This species is very similar to the previous D.berinda but much smaller and belongs to the same Delias group.It inhabits same habitat but it is found in larger range of Northern Thailand. 

Middle specimen is D.belladonna, two besides are D.berinda