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Notes from Vietnam
Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2020 2:49 pm
by Kip
Hanoi today between the thunderstorms.... I think this little gem is
Zizeeria maha
Re: Notes from Vietnam
Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2020 5:23 am
by 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!
Re: Notes from Vietnam
Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2020 9:23 am
by Kip
The very common Lime Swallowtail, Papilio demoleus......
Re: Notes from Vietnam
Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2020 12:50 pm
by 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
Re: Notes from Vietnam
Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2020 3:57 pm
by David M
You sure get around, Kip.
Your
maha is exquisite. Hope the thunderstorms abate sufficiently for you to see a few more species.
Re: Notes from Vietnam
Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2020 8:41 pm
by 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
Re: Notes from Vietnam
Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2020 8:44 pm
by Padfield
Good to see you back safely, Paul! I'm really looking forward to the piccies.
Guy
Re: Notes from Vietnam
Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2020 8:51 pm
by 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....
Re: Notes from Vietnam
Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2020 10:15 pm
by 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.
Re: Notes from Vietnam
Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2020 10:34 pm
by 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....
Re: Notes from Vietnam
Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2020 10:38 am
by 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...
Re: Notes from Vietnam
Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2020 7:12 pm
by Kip
One of the larger species, frequently taking salts by the riverside...
Common Cruiser, Vindula erota....
Re: Notes from Vietnam
Posted: Thu Mar 19, 2020 4:13 pm
by 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!)...
Re: Notes from Vietnam
Posted: Thu Mar 19, 2020 8:35 pm
by 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...
Re: Notes from Vietnam
Posted: Thu Mar 19, 2020 9:53 pm
by 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?
Re: Notes from Vietnam
Posted: Fri Mar 20, 2020 7:50 am
by Andrew555
Great shots of some beautiful Butterflies Kip. Fantastic stuff.
Re: Notes from Vietnam
Posted: Fri Mar 20, 2020 12:04 pm
by 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.
Re: Notes from Vietnam
Posted: Fri Mar 20, 2020 8:12 pm
by 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...
Re: Notes from Vietnam
Posted: Sat Mar 21, 2020 12:31 pm
by 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!!
Re: Notes from Vietnam
Posted: Sat Mar 21, 2020 12:53 pm
by 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