Malaysia, Taman Negara

[moloch]

Nymphalidae, part 2

Royal Assyrian (Terinos terpander) -- these were gorgeous butterflies but they tended to remain in shaddy areas within the forest where they just looked to be darkly coloured. If they landed in light gaps, the beautiful colours could be seen.

Vagrant (Vagrans egista) -- I only saw this species on a few occasions. These photos were taken on a rocky outcrop at the summit of Bukit Teresik.

Malaysian Leaf Butterfly (Kallima limborgii) -- What an incredibly cryptic butterfly! It was huge and about the size of an Owl Butterfly in the neotropics. When it settled on leaf litter, it was nearly invisible. I only saw these big butterflies on two occasions. They seemed to be the most active at dawn and dusk, just like Owl Butterflies.

Grey Pansy (Junonia atlites) -- this was a species of open areas. It had a nice pattern on the upper wings but would not cooperate for photos. I spent most of my time inside the forest so only saw Grey Pansies on a couple of occasions.

Purple Duke (Eulaceura osteria) -- I only saw this species twice. On both occasions, it was perched like this a few meters above the ground. I never saw the upper surface of the wings. On the web, it looks like it would be quite similar to the Commander.

Mystery 1 -- I saw this butterfly once when I was climbing Bukit Teresik. It has distinctive shape and the upper surface was a lovely blue in flight. I cannot find it on any of the Asian butterfly websites. Seems strange since it was so distinctive.

Malay Lacewing (Cethosia hypsea) -- I only saw this pretty butterfly once. Its outer wings were more attractive than its inner wings.

Black-veined Tiger (Danaus melanippus) -- I only saw this in disturbed areas near the Kuala Tembeling Jetty.

Magpie Crow (Euploea radamanthus) -- many of the crows had beautiful patches of purple on their inner wings.

 

[Violet]

Those are great photos, you ceartainly appear to have an impressive knowledge of Lepidoptera!

 

[moloch]

Thanks very much, Violet. There are some great websites that include butterflies from Malaysia and Singapore. These helped me a great deal. I will post links to sites at the end of the report.

Regards,
David

 

[moloch]

Nymphalidae, part 3, Lycaenidae

more Nymphalids:


Common Palmfly (Elymnias hypermnestra) -- numerous along the edge of the forest. The upper wings of this species were irridescent violet.

Horsfield's Six-ring (Ypthima horsfieldi) -- only a few sighted along the forest edge.

Mycalesis patiana -- I only saw a single individual of this species.

Purple Bush Brown (Mycalesis orseis) -- a very common butterfly along the edge of the forest.

Coelites epiminthia -- these butterflies remained in the shadows of the forest interior.

Common Faun (Faunis gracilis) -- I only saw this species on my final day at Taman Negara. It was found in the forest interior.

Common Duffer (Discophora sondaica) -- this was a lovely butterfly with blue bands on the upper wing. It was a larger species and acted much like the new world Owl Butterflies (Calligo sp.).
Butterflies.

Dark Blue Jungle Glory (Thaumantis klugius) -- These butterflies seemed to be crepuscular. I saw them active along trails only around sunrise. In flight, their upper wings were a lovely blue/purple, again somewhat like the neotropical Owl Butterflies.

Blues, Family Lycaenidae

This family was one of the big ones in the southeast Asian rainforests. I saw many individuals of many species. A number of these had elongated projections on their lower wings.


Elbowed Pierrot (Caleta roxus) -- I saw these occasionally on sandbanks along the Tahan River or in light gaps on trails.

... with an Orange Albatross

Common Pierrot (Castalius rosimon) -- these would sometimes associate with the previous species on the damp sand of the river bank.

Yamfly (Loxura atymnus) -- another Lycaenid with elongated lower wings. The undersurface of the wings was a dull orange in colour.

Common Posy (Drupadia ravindra) -- beautiful and common little butterflies. The were usually seen along trails or the forest edge.

Dark Posy (Drupadia theda) -- I never was able to photograph the underwings. The pattern was similar to that of the Common Posy.

Long Silverline (Spindasis lohita) -- These were lovely butterflies that were the most common in lantana or other flowers in open areas.

Common Cerulean (Jamides celeno) -- seen in the forest interior.

Leaf Blue (Amblypodia anita) -- only one found and this was in the garden of Mutiara Resort.

Common Tit (Hypolycaena erylus)

Fluffly Tit (Zeltus amasa) -- I only saw this single individual on grass along the Tahan River.

Mystery Blue -- I saw these blues on three occasions. They are distinctive but I cannot find an image of these on the Singapore/Malaysia butterfly websites.

Unknown

Aberrant Oakblue (Arhopala abseus) -- only a few were sighted in the understorey of the forest.

Miscellaneous blues near water. Mixed flocks of small blues were abundant along the river.

 

[moloch]

Taman Negara was home to several lovely Metalmarks (Riodinidae).

Malay Tailed Judy (Abisara neophron)

Orange Harlequin (Taxila haquinus)

Malay Red Harlequin (Paralaxita damajanti)

Zemeros emesoides

Pieridae was a conspicuous family at Taman Negara. I saw these the most often on sandbars along the Tahan River.

Chocolate Albatross (Appias lyncida)

Mixed group of Albatross (Appias sp.)

Striped Albatross (Appias libythea)

Orange Albatross (Appias nero) -- This was a beautiful species. I rarely saw more than one or two together. They would associate with flocks of other Pierids and Nymphalids.

Cruisers (left) with a Lemon Migrant (Catopsilia pomona)

More Migrants. I think that both Lemon (Catopsilia pomona) and Orange Migrants (Catopsilia scylla) were included in this photo:

After examining the following photo, I realized that there were two more Graphium swallowtails here that I had not previously recognized. Spotted Jays (Graphium arycles) were the larger, greener swallowtails. Blue Jays (Graphium evemon) were the slightly smaller swallowtail that lacked a red bar near the front of the wing (as in G. doson).

Mixed flocks of Grass Yellows (Eurema sp.). I saw at least 4 species but there may have been more. The differences between the species were subtle.

This skipper was quite odd. It was big and mainly bright orange with patches of blue.

Giant Redeye (Gangara thyrsis). This was a huge skipper.

Tagiades sp.

 

[moloch]

These moths were all seen while I walked the trails at night searching for herps:

I also checked lights at the resort and came across other species.

This would have to be one of the most cryptic moths that I have ever seen. I think that it would be nearly invisible if it was on dead leaves or branches.
Tarsolepis sommeri

Dog Paw Moth (Plutodes sp.)

This is the first moth that I have ever seen with "horn".

This one held its wings in a peculiar manner. I thought at first that there might have been two moths here.
Trabala viridana

This moth had a satin like colour and sheen:

Weird shapes:

I saw a number of species that were small and predominantly green. Here are photos of three:

Agathia largita

Saturniid

Sphinx

Killed by fungus?

This disposable nappy proved to be excellent lepidopteran bait. I saw many butterflies on it by day. In the early morning, it was covered with a couple of species of day-flying moths.

Dysphania sagana

... and a similarly marked but smaller species:

Regards,
David

 

[moloch]

Here are a Here are a few herps that I encountered. It was odd but on the first few days, I was only seeing one of two lizards in an entire day of walking. The weather was wet but it was hot and humid. At the end of the week, the sun was out and so were the lizards. I saw many individuals of a few species on the final day before departure.

I saw Many-lined Sun Skinks (Mabuya multifasciata) on a few occasions. These were big, colourful skinks.

I am not certain of the following identification but I think that these are juvenile Long-tailed Sun Skinks (Mabuya longicauda).

I found a single Rough-scaled Skink (Mabuya rugifera) on a fallen log.

Dracos were not nearly as conspicuous as they are in the hotter months of Feb and Mar when I usually visit the park. On this trip, I only saw dracos twice. On prior trips, I saw many more and they often confused me. I would see something sail by and I would initially think that it must be a strange bird only to then observe the "bird" smack into a trunk of a tree and vanish.

I am reasonably certain that the following is a Black-bearded Gliding Lizard (Draco melanopogon) due to the black dewlap.

I am not certain of the id of this draco. It was larger than the above animal. There are a number of possibilities at Taman Negara:

I found two Clouded Monitors (Varanus bengalensis). One was in a tree right in the accommodation area of the Mutiara Resort. The other came swaggering along a trail near the Tembeling River one morning.

Here are some rather boring geckos and frog. I am not certain of the identity of any of these. Does anyone else recognize them?

gecko 1 -- these were big and usually seen on the sides of buildings. I did observe a few in the forest.

gecko 2 -- observed in the forest.

gecko 3 -- on a building at the resort

frog

Mammals were numerous at Taman Negara but I only saw a few. Bearded Pigs would venture into the accommodation area at night. Soon after sunrise, there were still a few on the resort grounds.

Long-tailed Macaques were common both along the Tahan River as well as at Mutiara Resort.

The larger mammals don't like people much. Once I walked beyond two or three kms from the resort, I saw plenty of sign. Elephant dung as well as damage to bamboo was obvious.

Other mammals included a tiny Mouse Deer, White-handed Gibbons (singing only), Siamang (singing only), a large deer, many squirrels and a few tree shrews. On prior trips, I have seen Small-clawed Otter in the river and a Malay Tapir at one of the hides in the forest.


The Great Argus had just completed one of its amazingly loud "OH-WOW!" calls.

This was an incredibly tame Crested Fireback. These usually are wary and hard to see well.

As will other tropical forests, there was a huge ant here. These giant forest ants were real monsters.

Here are a few more butterfly shots. I just loved seeing the variety at Taman Negara. Many of the photos were taken on this sandbar:

Here are a few unusual fruiting trees:

Regards,
David

 

[Tarantula_Hawk]

Very nice as usual.
The ant is Camponotus gigas, one of the world's largest ant species (but not the largest).
They are amazing, and pretty scary at first glance (i met lots while in Borneo two years ago). Despite the size, they are pretty friendly.

 

[Anthony Straus]

This bizarre fly was one of my favourite sightings. Unfortunately, I only saw this single individual and managed to take one quick photo before it vanished.

That is a stalk-eyed fly, from family Diopsidae.

There is a really cool segment on the BBC Life series in the "Challenges of Life" episode.