Notes from Vietnam

[Kip]

Hanoi today between the thunderstorms.... I think this little gem is Zizeeria maha

[aeshna5]

I can see a similarity with African Grass Blue on the underwing which is the same genus & one I'm familiar with. Lovely looking butterfly!

[Kip]

The very common Lime Swallowtail, Papilio demoleus......

[Padfield]

I'm very excited for what is to come, Paul!

I'm sure you're right about maha. The borders are very narrow (I've seen this in India, with broader borders) but looking on the internet I see plenty of pictures of them with narrow borders.

Guy

[David M]

You sure get around, Kip.

Your maha is exquisite. Hope the thunderstorms abate sufficiently for you to see a few more species.

[Kip]

OK, back now, and having been in Vietnam then Cambodia, I have a few more pics to share, hopefully correctly ID'd. Watch this space!!

The Great Eggfly, Hypolimnas bolina....

Latter two pics, same individual, different angle

[Padfield]

Good to see you back safely, Paul! I'm really looking forward to the piccies.

Guy

[Kip]

Thanks Guy, was a great trip, but shortened a bit sadly by Covid19 measures stopping me going back into Vietnam.

I did meet the Blue Glassy Tiger, Ideopsis vulgaris, nothing vulgar about this large elegant gem....

[David M]

Glad you got back safely, Kip. I daresay it'll be a while before any of us are able to venture to such exotic locations.

Love the recent images; so much better to see them in their natural habitat than in a domestic butterfly house.

[Kip]

totally agree.
Though as Lantana grows wild there, it often does still look like a Butterfly House!!!

Tropical Asian version of our Wood White.... Leptosia nina, the Psyche....

[Kip]

Here are some of the duller species, the Satyrids I encountered....

Mycalesis species, dry season forms... unable to get a closer ID from what I have...

Orsotriaena medus, the Dark Grass Brown...

Ypthima philomela, the Baby Four (or Five)-ring...

Ypthima huebneri, the Common Four-ring...

[Kip]

One of the larger species, frequently taking salts by the riverside...
Common Cruiser, Vindula erota....

[Kip]

maha was perhaps the prettiest Lycaenid I saw whilst in Eastern Asia, but here are the rest of the Lycaenids....

Loxura atymnus, the Yamfly, only appeared once, right at the end of my trip, but posed nicely....

Several of the Blues were small, dull and inconspicuous, looking quite alike....
Prosotas dubiosa , The Tailess Line Blue...

Prosotas nora ardates , The Common Lineblue ...

Nacaduba kurava euplea, The Transparent six line Blue...

Zizula hylax pygmaea, The Pygmy Grass Blue...

Zizina otis sangra, The Lesser Grass Blue...

Chilades pandava, The Plains Cupid, or Cycad Blue was encountered several times, I think... just checking with Butterflying Around the World 寰宇蝶影, which is a great Hong Kong based facebook group for such things...

Castalius rosimon, The Common Pierrot... this was a beauty...

One unidentifiable Lycaenopsid, perhaps being one of several related species and needing genital examination to determine properly.... looked like a Holly Blue to me...

Lastly, my final photo of the trip, the quite large Purple-line Blue, Amblypodia anita, a worn specimen, in the grounds of the Raffles Hotel in Siem Reap.

One I have yet to identify but I think is the Dry Season Form of Chilades pandava ...

Lastly, Acytolepis puspa gisca, The Common Hedge Blue, at a busy watered roundabout, dodging traffic ( me, that is!)...

[Kip]

How about some Pierids...

Hebomoia glaucippe _ the great orange-tip, but not a great shot, boy were they skittish...

Catopsilia pomona _ common emigrant or lemon emigrant...

Delias pasithoe _ the redbase Jezebel...

Appias albina _ the common albatross...

Appias lyncida _ the chocolate albatross...

and lastly, the ubiquitous Eurema Hecabe _ the common grass yellow...

[Padfield]

Hi Paul. Really enjoying this thread - when I get the time to look at it ...

Your first C. pandava looks quite wrong for this species to me. I'd have gone for Euchrysops cnejus. I saw both of these in India, and while Indian subspecies might be different, the overall pattern and structure is probably quite close.

Your next tentative pandava (dry season) also looks wrong to me. I'm sure I recognise it, from identifying someone else's picture not so long ago, but I just can't recall the name and haven't got time right now to look it up.

As a Sanskritist, I enjoy many of the names chosen for Oriental butterflies. The Pandavas were on the side of righteousness in the great epic, the Mahabharata. The Kurus (as in Nacaduba kurava), in the narrow sense, were on the other side ... Greek myth is written in a lot of our European butterfly names but elsewhere in the world they tell other stories.

Guy

EDIT - hmm ... I think you were right after all about the second pandava - the dry season form. I also see your first 'pandava' is two different butterflies - one pandava and one cnejus?

[Andrew555]

Great shots of some beautiful Butterflies Kip. Fantastic stuff.

[David M]

Lovely sequences, Paul. I took a look at the Yamfly after seeing your image and it is an extraordinary butterfly.

the uppersides are like a male Clouded Yellow but with angular wings and a long pair of hindwing tails.

[Kip]

It was smaller than I expected from the web pictures I had seen David, probably 3cm from head to tail.
I had no idea about the taxonomic names being representative of deities/ mythological figures from that part of the world Guy, I love it! I learned a lot about the Buddhist/ Hindu representations whilst I was away but hadn't connected the way you could. I am checking for ID confirmation, but I see what you mean about the Blue.

Here are some Papilionids, none particularly uncommon, and only those I could photograph, there were many more that never came within lens range........
Papilio polytes , the Common Mormon...

Papilio helenus, the Red Helen...

Papilio memnon, the Great Mormon...

Graphium sarpedon, the Common Bluebottle (awful name)...

Graphium nomius, the Spot Swordtail...

Graphium doson, the Common Jay...

Graphium arycles, the Spotted Jay...

[Kip]

Guy, they still think it is pandava.. On the web I found this... http://www.flutters.org/home/photogalle ... re&id=2070 but I still cant quite make it out...
here's a better uns shot....

On the grounds of that ID link, I would stay with pandava[, I hope you don't mind.... I would have liked an extra species tick!!

[Padfield]

Hi Paul. I was looking at the next photo, which is surely not pandava. Intially, in my haste, I thought they were the same butterfly (so both not pandava), then I saw the second one was a different individual. That second one still looks like cnejus to me ...

It's the picture you have labelled Chilades pandava 8588.

Guy