Southeastern Asian Butterflies

[wollastoni]

Cute babies !

Hope they will go through the whole process until A1+ imago.

[Adam Cotton]

The plant looks like a Michelia species (Magnoliaceae) which is a well known foodplant for Graphium doson.

If you find similar looking small larvae with a green rectangular patch on the back of the abdominal segments, they are Graphium agamemnon, which can also often be found on Michelia.

The 5th instar larva of both species is green, but the false eyes on the largest pair of thoracic spines are different colours.

Adam.

[Paul K]

Graphium agamemnon is very common on Koh Tao as well as G.sarpedon. Now I can see more of G.doson specimen and I have collected one specimen of G.nomius. I have seen two other similar specimens flying but I can not confirm if that was also G.nomius or perhaps other swordtails papilio.


The problem is to collect them as there is no river or stream where they would come to drink minerals. They are all very fast flyers and very difficult to net.

[Adam Cotton]

That is interesting, can you please post a photo of the specimen of Graphium nomius, just the underside if it is papered is fine. I think this may be the most southerly record of this species, assuming that it is not G. aristeus.

Indeed it must be rather difficult to catch them if there is no place for them to mud puddle. You could try to make an artificial mud puddle with lots of water and some urine on a path in a forested area where they fly.

Adam.

[Paul K]

Graphium nomius swinhoei

I have taken pictures of this specimen before I papered it just to make sure I can do proper identification.
I was also surprised in fact I was sure that it is G.aristeus when I have seen it on the wing as it is found on Koh Samui.


I have tried a lot of urine but no water as it is hard to find here when no rain. No butterfly was attracted and there was few G.sarpedon flying around too. 

[Adam Cotton]

That is indeed Graphium nomius swinhoei, and an important record.

For those who don't know how to distinguish this from Graphium aristeus, note the second submarginal spot from the FW apex is out of line with the other spots. In Graphium aristeus these spots are not rounded, and all are in line.

Adam.

PS. Indeed butterflies will not respond to urine if the ground is dry. Urine only works well on wet ground if there are no streams, so it's no good if there isn't any rain. I once managed to make a mud-puddle using a 20 litre water bottle and pouring urine on afterwards, but it's not ideal.

[Paul K]

It turns out that I have collected G.doson and G.agamemnon larvae on the same plant as Adam predicted !


iPhone picture thru my net cover . I will take more pictures , better one soon.

PS.

What a lovely couple 

[Adam Cotton]

In case anyone is uncertain which is which, the lower larva is Graphium agamemnon.

Adam.

[Paul K]

Feb 27, 2016 20:10:46 GMT Adam Cotton said:

In case anyone is uncertain which is which, the lower larva is Graphium agamemnon.

Adam.

Uups...I missed that part.
Thanks Adam

Paul

[Paul K]

Does anyone know the key to id Euploea crameri bremeri and Euploea core graminifera ? They are really look alike.

Paul

[Paul K]

Graphium pupae

My "kindergarten"getting mature now, and I have already few pupae.

on the left Graphium doson, on the right G.agamemnon. The middle one I need Adam's help. I think it is variation of G.agamemnon but if it is other species that would be even better!

Paul

[wollastoni]

Great, congrats !
And thanks for sharing, first time I see Graphium pupae !



Hope they will succesfully go to the final stage !

[Adam Cotton]

I agree with Jan, the middle pupa is almost certainly a colour variant of Graphium doson.

Adam.

[Paul K]

Update
My three months research on Koh Tao, small island in Gulf of Thailand is finished.
I discovered/encountered about 95 species of butterflies belonging to 4 families.
Hesperiidae family is not included as I was not interested in this group at this time .
The list may be published on this forum in the future as more study and examination is needed to determinate subspecies either if they belong to main land of Thailand or peninsular south part of this country as the island is located in between those two zones.
I am sure that the list is incomplete as I am suspecting there has to be 40-50 more species hiding deep in the forest or high in the canopy , particularly rare species which they yet to be discovered.
If I will be returning to the island some time in the future it is unknown at this moment. However it would be interesting to visit the collecting spots during the different time of the year.

Paul

[Adam Cotton]

Things are a little more complicated than Paul's post suggests. Koh Tao is actually well inside the peninsular region. In fact that extends all the way up to Petchaburi, almost as far north as Bangkok. Many butterflies have intermediate subspecies between the mainland SE Asian and Malay subspecies in this area, some crossing the Isthmus of Kra at Chumporn province, and others not. Some peninsular species such as Papilio palinurus are able to spread north to the top of the peninsula, and even through coastal Burma as far as Calcutta, India, where one was photographed a few years ago.

At the same time, many mainland species are distributed down the upper peninsular region through the Tenasserim range at least to the southern tip of Burma. So for instance, on Koh Tao Paul recorded Graphium nomius which is a mainland Asian species, not reaching Malaysia.

Kaeng Krachan National Park in Petchaburi province is very interesting, as many distinctly Sundaland species/subspecies can be found there, such as Papilio iswara, Papilio palinurus, Atrophaneura sycorax and the green spotted Graphium arycles arycles among others. At the same time mainland Asian species, such as Papilio protenor are also found there.

Adam.