Image Copyright Paul Dunn
Observed: December 2016, Koh Chang
Observed By: Paul Dunn
Conocephalus melanus is a species of Tettigoniidae (bush-crickets or katydids) found in China, Japan, Nepal, India, Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia.
Image Copyright Paul Dunn
Image Copyright Paul Dunn
Last Observed: December 2016, Koh Chang
Observed By: Paul Dunn
Kallima inachus, the orange oakleaf or dead leaf, is a nymphalid butterfly found in tropical Asia from India to Japan. With wings closed, it closely resembles a dry leaf with dark veins and is a spectacular and commonly cited example of camouflage. It’s also a very rare case where the butterfly looks more interesting with its wings closed rather than open.
Image Copyright Paul Dunn
Last Observed: December 2016, Koh Chang
Observed By: Paul Dunn
Erebus macrops is a species of moth of the family Erebidae. It is found in the subtropical regions of Africa and Asia. It is a big old moth (the wingspan is about 12 cm) making it exceptionally large for an Erebidae species. The larvae feed on Acacia and Entada species.
Their most notable feature is a large eye-like circlular pattern on each wing.
Image Copyright Paul Dunn
Last Observed: January 2016, Koh Chang
Observed By: Paul Dunn
This butterfly, named for the five circles on each wing is a native of peninsular Malaysia and Thailand.
Presumably the eye-like spots are used to confuse predators.
Malayan Five Ring at Butterfly Circle
Image Copyright Gerardo Massere
Last Observed: April 2016, Koh Chang
Observed By: Gerardo Massere
The crimson-tailed marsh hawk, is a species of dragonfly in the family Libellulidae. It is a widespread species occurring from west India to Japan and south to Java and the Sunda Islands. It breeds in puddles, ponds and tanks. Three subspecies are recognized.A molecular phylogenetics study of Orthetrum dragonflies revealed that Orthetrum pruinosum is a cryptic species.
…and what’s a cryptic species? It’s a situation where there are two distinct species that have been previously classified under one species name. Trust me I can see why this happens – loads of these beasts look nearly the same.
Crimson-Tailed Marsh Hawk Wikipedia
Image Copyright Heinz Koths
Last Observed: July 2016 – Koh Chang
Last Observed By: Heinz Koths
Trabala is a genus of moth in the family Lasiocampidae. The species are confined to China, throughout India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Java.
Image Copyright Heinz Koths
Image Copyright Michael Erik Maria Finder
Last Observed: July 2016 – Koh Chang
Last Observed By: Michael Erik Maria Finder
Pieris brassicae, the large white, also called cabbage butterfly, cabbage white, cabbage moth (erroneously), or in India the large cabbage white, is a butterfly in the family Pieridae. It is a close relative to the small white, Pieris rapae.
The large white is common throughout Europe, North Africa, Asia even through the Himalayas.
The Pieridae have the radial vein on the forewing with three or four branches and rarely with five branches. The forelegs are well developed in both sexes, unlike in the Nymphalidae, and the tarsal claws are bifid, unlike in the Papilionidae.[3]
Like the Papilionidae, the Pieridae also have their pupae held at an angle by a silk girdle, but running at the first abdominal segment, unlike the thoracic girdle seen in the Papilionidae.
Image Copyright Napha Kotkangplu
Last Observed: March 2016 – Koh Chang
Last Observed By: Napha Kotkangplu
Parotis marginata is a species of moth of the Crambidae family. It is known from south-east Asia, including India, Bangladesh and China, as well as Fiji, Japan and Australia, where it is known from the Northern Territory and Queensland.
The wingspan is about 30 mm. They are a deep green, with a crenulated brown line around the edges of each wing.
The larvae feed on Alstonia scholaris, Gardenia jasminoides. Young larvae feed on the flesh of the leaves leaving a skeleton of veins. Later instars have been found feeding on the bark. They are pale green with several raised black lumps on each segment, and a pale brown head. They live in a shelter created from curled or joined leaves held with silk. Pupation takes place in this shelter.
Image Copyright Michael Erik Maria Finder
Last Observed: July 2016 – Koh Chang
Last Observed By: Michael Erik Maria Finder
The Common Wanderer or Malayan Wanderer (Pareronia valeria) is a medium-sized butterfly of the family Pieridae, that is, the Yellows and Whites, and is found in India and Southeast Asia. The butterfly found in India is sometimes considered as a separate species, Pareronia hippia.
Male upperside: ground colour a clear pale blue of a much deeper tint than in P. avatar, Moore; all the veins defined with black. Forewing: costa broadly, apex and terminal margin very broadly black, this black on the termen narrowed towards the tornus, and traversed by a transverse subterminal series of bluish-white spots that are variable in number; the spot in interspace 3 shifted inwards; sometimes the posterior two spots of the series are all but joined onto the streaks of the ground colour between the veins. Hindwing: dorsal and costal margins broadly whitish: terminal margin broadly black, especially at apex, the black area covered, except at the tornus, with specialised opaque-looking scales. Underside: paler blue, the terminal margins of the wings obscurely fuscous, traversed by a subterminal, very indistinct, transverse series of whitish lunulated spots. Forewing: the veins more or less broadly bordered with black, this edging broadened towards the termen; apex broadly, terminal margin decreasingly to the tornus, suffused with a somewhat obscure pearly-while lustre. Hindwing: the subcostal vein and veins 6, 7, and 8 broadly, the rest of the veins very narrowly edged with black; a very fine black line in interspace 1. Cilia of both forewings and hindwings very narrow and white. Antennae black, head, thorax and abdomen fuscous, the thorax clothed with long bluish hairs; beneath: the palpi, thorax and abdomen pale silvery bluish-white.
Female:
First Form. Upper-side: black; the markings bluish white. Forewing: cell with two streaks, the anterior one from the extreme base, the posterior one from the end of the basal third, but extending beyond tho anterior streak; below and beyond the cell is a series of streaks in the interspaces; tho streaks very irregular in length, that in interspace 1 the longest, angulated anteriorly and divided longitudinally from near its base, the streak in interspace 3 short and broad forming an elongate spot, those in the anterior interspaces more or less obliquely placed; beyond these streaks follows a subterminal transverse series of spots, of which the spot in interspace 3 is shifted inwards and those opposite the apex curved backwards. Hindwing: costa and dorsum broadly white; cell and the interspaces beyond with a series of streaks and sub-terminal spots, more or less as in the forewing but more regular; the streak in cell and interspace 1 divided longitudinally, the subterminal series of spots evenly curved. Underside: similar to the upperside, but the ground colour dull, dusky and diffuse, the markings broader but less clearly defined; the apical area on the forewing obscured by a powdering of whitish scales. Antenna, head, thorax and abdomen much as in the male but darker. Second Form. Very like the first, the markings both on the upper and under sides similar, but the ground colour on the upperside of the hindwing at base of interspace 1 a, over the whole of interspace 1, area of cell and at base of interspace 2 suffused with bright yellow. On the underside the same areas are dull ochraceous. The extent of the bright yellow colour on the upper-side and of the dull ochraceous tint on the underside is variable, in some specimens more restricted, in others it spreads further towards the costa. The common form of female mimics glassy tiger to avoid predation. The philomela form is rare and identified by yellow coloration at the base of the wings. this form is reported more in North-East India.[3] According to Wynter-Blyth this form mimics Danais aspasia, which is not found west of Myanmar. He rejects the assumption that the wagtail carries the eggs of D. aspasia to India. It seems that in bygone era the D. aspasia might have been found in India in the past along with the Common Wanderer and later eliminated.
Image Copyright Michael Erik Maria Finder
Last Observed: July 2016 – Koh Chang
Last Observed By: Michael Erik Maria Finder
Two subspecies are recognized but neither form is constant either in markings or in habitat. In the British Museum collection there are specimens of true Parantica aglea aglea from Burma, and others, inseparable from typical Parantica aglea melanoides, from Mysore.
Subspecies Parantica aglea aglea
Ground-colour fuliginous black with subhyaline bluish-white streaks and spots. Fore wing: vein 11 anastomosed with vein 12.
Subspecies Parantica aglea aglea in Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary
Upperside: fore wing—interspace 1 with two comparatively long, broad streaks united at base, truncate exteriorly; cell with a very broad, somewhat clavate streak traversed by two fine black lines; basal spots in interspaces 2 and 3; an irregular discal series of three spots and two elongate streaks and a subterminal series of spots, the two series curved inwards opposite apex of wing, the latter continued along the apical half of the costa; finally a terminal row in pairs in the interspaces, of much smaller spots; Hind wing: interspaces la, lb with broad long streaks from base; interspace 1 and cell with two streaks united at base in each, the pair in the cell with a short streak obliquely between their apices, an outwardly radiating series of broad, elongate, inwardly pointed spots in interspaces 2-8, followed by somewhat irregular rows of subterminal and terminal spots. Underside similar, the markings and spots sometimes a little ill-defined and blurred.
Antennae black; head and thorax black spotted with white; abdomen blackish brown, ochraceous beneath. Male secondary sex-mark in form ]
Subspecies Parantica aglea melanoides
Subspecies Parantica aglea melanoides on Indian Turnsole Heliotropium indicum at Jayanti in Buxa Tiger Reserve in Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal, India.
Northern and Eastern form. Differs as follows:— Wings on the whole longer and narrower; hyaline markings, especially in interspace 1 of fore wing and in cells of both fore and hind wing, very much broader. In many specimens the black ground-colour in these spaces is reduced to a mere slender black line enclosed in the subhyaline marking. On the underside the streaks are often much blurred and diffuse.
Expanse: 70–100 mm.
