Life History of the Striped Albatross

Life History of the Striped Albatross (Appias libythea olferna)

Butterfly Biodata:
Genus: Appias Hübner, 1819
Species: libythea Fabricius, 1775
Subspecies: olferna Swinhoe, 1890
Wingspan of Adult Butterfly: 55mm
Caterpillar Local Host Plants: Cleome rutidosperma (Capparaceae, common name: Purple Cleome, Fringed Spiderflower).


A female Striped Albatross visiting a flower of Bidens alba.


Another female Striped Albatross with its upperside revealed.

Physical Description of Adult Butterfly:
The forewing apex is acute in the male but rounded in the female. Vein 9 on the forewing of both sexes arises before the end of vein 10. The male has a pair of hair pencils between the 8th abdominal segment and the saccus (a male mating structure). Above, the wings are white with a dentate black border in the male, and heavily black dusted with several broad white streaks and a series of yellow submarginal spots on the forewing in the female. Beneath, the wings are white in the male and yellow dusted in the female. The veins are dark dusted. A yellow basal streak, broader and longer in the female than in the male, lies along the costa on each hindwing.


A male Striped Albatross in a open-wing posture on a leaf perch.


A male Striped Albatross puddling on a damp patch.

Field Observations of Butterfly Behaviour:
Although common in countries such as India, Sri Lanka and Myanmar, the Striped Albatross only established itself in Singapore and Malaysia about 70 years ago. The species has become rather common due to the widespread occurrence of its local host plant, Cleome rutidosperma, which is a weed found in many areas. The fast flying adults are most active in sunny weather and frequently visit flowers for nectar. They can be found in open habitats such as fringe of the nature reserve, wastelands, grass fields and even in urban and residential areas. The males have the habit of puddling for mineral intakes.


A newly eclosed female Striped Albatross.


A male Striped Albatross visiting a flower of the Coat Button (Tridax procumbens).

Early Stages:
The host plant, Cleome rutidosperma, is a common herbaceous weed with violet-blue to pink flowers. The caterpillars of the Striped Albatross feed on the relatively young to middle-aged leaves as well as young shoots, stems and flower parts.

Host plant: Cleome rutodosperma.


A mating pair of the Striped Albatross.

The eggs of the Striped Albatross are laid singly on a leaf or flower part of the host plant. The egg is spindle-shaped and standing on one end with a height of about 1mm, about 2.5 times as tall as broad. It has vertical ridges and numerous transverse striations. The vertical ridges end in low projections encircling the micropylar. The color of the egg is initially white but changes to orange overnight.

Two eggs of the Striped Albatross.


Two maturing eggs of the Striped Albatross.

The egg takes about 2 days to hatch. The newly hatched has a length of about 1.8mm and has a yellowish orange head capsule. Its cylindrically-shaped body is also yellowish orange and featuring sub-dorsal, dorso-lateral and lateral rows of small tubercles running lengthwise. Each tubercle has a short setae emerging from the middle of it. The end of each setae bears a tiny droplet of fluid.

A newly hatched caterpillar eating its egg shell.

Two views of a 1st instar caterpillar, early in this stage, length: 2mm.

The newly hatched eats the empty egg shell for its first meal, and then moves on to eat the leaf lamina. The body takes on a strong green undertone with the intake of leaf diet. The 1st instar growth is fast paced and the body length reaches about 4mm. After about 1.5 days of the 1st instar, the caterpillar moults to the 2nd instar.


Two views of a late 1st Instar caterpillar hours before its moult, length: 3mm.

The 2nd instar caterpillar is yellowish green in body color with similar setae-bearing tubercles as in the 1st instar. In addition, there are nuermous small conical tubercles dotting the body surface.The head capsule has changed to pale yellow. Laterally, the body surface is covered in numerous light brown speckles which are only discernible with a close-up examination. The posterior end also two tiny and short pointed ends. This instar lasts about 1.5 days with the body length reaching 5.5-6mm.


Two view of a 2nd instar caterpillar, length: 4.5mm


Two view of a 2nd instar caterpillar, late in this stage, length: 5mm

The 3rd instar caterpillar resembles the 2nd instar caterpillar closely except for the appearance of a faint yellowish dorsal band and a stronger green undertone in the body color. The head capsule is now yellowish green. It is also easier to discern the two anal points. This instar takes about 1-1.5 days to complete with body length reaching about 9mm.


Two views of a 3rd instar caterpillar, length; 6mm.


Two views of a 3rd instar caterpillar, length: 8.5mm.

Again, the 4th instar retains all the features as the 3rd instar. In addition, a white lateral line appears sub-spiracularly, initially faint in appearance but becoming more prominent as growth progresses. Numerous fine setae moderately long appear laterally just below the white lateral lines. This penultimate instar lasts 1-1.5 days with body length reaching about 17.5mm.


Two views of a 4th instar caterpillar, early in this stage, length: 9.5mm.


Two views of a 4th instar caterpillar, late in thie stage, length: 17.5mm.

The 5th and final instar caterpillar resembles the 4th instar caterpillar closely. The many tubercles dotting the body surface are blue to dark blue, giving the body a speckled appearance. The green head capsule also carries numerous conical tubercles with some fine setae emerging from most of them. The 5th instar lasts for 2-2.5 days, and the body length reaches up to 33mm.


Two views of a 4th instar caterpillar, newly moulted, length: 17.5mm.


Two views of a 5th instar caterpillar, length: 24mm.


Two views of a 5th instar caterpillar, late in this stage, length: 33mm.

On the last day of the 5th instar, the body of the caterpillar shortens and changes to a dull shade of pale green. It ceases feeding and comes to rest on the underside of the stem/stalk of the host plant or larger leaves of other plants in the vicinity. Typically the caterpillar shows a strong preference for a vertical or steeply inclined surface. Here the caterpillar spins a silk pad and a silk girdle to secure itself and then becomes immobile in a head-up pre-pupatory pose.

Left: The head of a 5th instar caterpillar.
Right: The anal points of a 4th instar caterpillar.

Two views of a pre-pupatory larva of the Striped Albatross.

Pupation takes place about 0.5 day later. The yellowish green pupa secures itself with the same silk girdle as in the pre-pupal stage, but with cremaster replacing graspers in attaching the posterior end to the silk pad on the stem. The pupa has a long, pointed, slightly curved cephalic horn which is yellow in colour. There is a prominent thoracic ridge which is sharply raised dorsally at thoracic segment 2, and is colored in white to yellow along the ridge line. The abdominal segments 2-4 are produced laterally into a pointed tooth at each side of the abdominal segment 2. Two lateral ridge lines, white mostly and twice interrupted with yellow, run from the abdominal segment 2 to the posterior end. Length of pupae: 21-22mm.

Two views of the pupa of a Striped Albatross.

Two views of the maturing pupa of a female Striped Albatross.
Right panel shows the pupa in more advanced stage of development.

Two views of the maturing pupa of a male Striped Albatross.
Right panel shows the pupa in more advanced stage of development.

After about 5 days of development, the pupal skin turns translucent as the development within the pupal case comes to an end. The markings on the forewing upperside become discernible and indicative of the gender of the soon-to-emerge adult. The following day, the adult butterfly emerges from the pupal case.

Newly eclosed Striped Albatross drying wings on their respective pupal case.
Left: female; Right: male.

References:

• The Butterflies of The Malay Peninsula, A.S. Corbet and H.M. Pendlebury, 4th Edition, The Malayan Nature Society.
• Butterflies of Thailand, Pisuth Ek-Amnuay, 1st Edition, 2006.

Text by Horace Tan, Photos by Benedict Tay, Henry Koh, Sunny Chir, Khew S K and Horace Tan

Racing for Butterflies on a Saturday morning

Racing for Butterflies on a Saturday Morning
NParks Biodiversity Race 2010

Last Saturday, 29 May 2010, veteran butterfly enthusiast Steven Neo and I were at the Chua Chu Kang Park as arbitrators for the National Parks Board's Biodiversity Race 2010. We arrived at the finishing point of the Biodiversity Race at around 11:00am (the participants were flagged off at 8:30am that morning). I must admit that it was the first time that I've visited Choa Chu Kang Park, and I must say that it's a nice size and has good potential for good butterfly activity.

Participants making their submissions at the official end-point station

Coming back to the Biodiversity Race, the arbitrators had been briefed earlier about our roles, and there were four pairs of arbitrators, covering the bird, butterfly, dragonfly and plant groups, that the participants were competing to score points on. Each participating team had four members and had to survey a prescribed route and record a checklist of species of birds, butterflies, dragonflies and plants that they spot along the route. They were also encouraged to photograph what they see, and points awarded for photos with correct IDs.

By the time the arbitrators had tucked in to a specially catered buffet lunch, the teams of participants had begun streaming in and reporting to the checkpoint coordinators who collected their observation sheets and storage cards for their photos. The whole process was well-coordinated and from the smiling faces of the participants (and the officials), everything went well without a glitch.

Race officials processing the submissions from the teams

The arbitrators then convened at the Information Kiosk to start the validation process of scoring points based on the criteria given - 1 point for a species (that is likely to be found in the competition route) and 2 points for a photo with the species correctly identified. During the process, the arbitrators agreed that if a photo was provided, but with a wrong identity of the species, then no points would be awarded. As the objective of the Biodiversity Race was to identify as many species as possible correctly, teams were therefore penalised if they had incorrect identifications.

Bird arbitrator Alan Owyong having a thoughtful moment at the Arbitrators' workstations

The Race officials thoughtfully provided enough notebook PCs for the arbitration process and the checking of checklists and photos by the arbitrators proceeded very efficiently. For the butterfly group, Steven and I were disappointed that even though a couple of shots of relatively rare butterflies were submitted, the teams had identified the butterflies incorrectly! For example, one of the teams featured a shot of a female Green Baron (Euthalia adonia pinwilli), but named it as "Lime Butterfly (Papilio demoleus malayanus)" instead! There were a few lookalike challenges. A classic example was the Malayan Eggfly (Hypolimnas anomala anomala), which many of the teams managed to photograph, but only one team managed to ID it correctly. The rest thought that it was a King Crow (Euploea phanaereta castelnaui). In a sense, the mimicry phenomenon worked as the Malayan Eggfly indeed evolved to mimic one of the Crows for protection against predation as part of their survival strategies, and fooled even human observers!

Prizes galore!

We had a moment of amusement when we evaluated one photograph that was cluttered with trees and bushes and an ID of "Common Birdwing". To give the benefit of the doubt to the team, we called the members in to help show us where the butterfly was. When the team came in, they could not find it either! Looking for a needle in a haystack came to mind as we scrolled up and down, left and right to try to find the elusive butterfly in the photo. But it was all in good spirit, and even the participants could not remember where exactly where the butterfly was in the picture!

So, Humans 0 : Butterfly : 1

A few words from the Director, Parks Division, Dr Nigel Goh, before the winners were announced

After all the four teams of arbitrators completed their work the officials then tallied the points and we quickly went for the prize-giving ceremony, where the participants were already seated and anxiously awaiting the results. The prizes were giving out by the Director/Parks Division, Dr Nigel Goh. There were squeals of excitement from the participants as the winners were announced and prizes were handed out. The overall winning team had a rather decent prize of a good pair of binoculars each, donated by the sponsor. Prizes were also won for the best butterfly, bird and dragonfly of the Race.

The all-lady winning team!

As far as butterflies are concerned, it was an eye-opener for Steven and me that the general nature-loving public is very much in need of a comprehensive field guide to help them ID butterflies in the wild.

Arbitrators receiving their tokens of appreciation

It was a nice time catching up with friends in the nature community and we are encouraged to see many young (and young-at-heart) participants who enjoy nature and a day out to appreciate Mother Nature's creations.

Text & Photos by Khew SK ; Poster courtesy of National Parks Board

A Tinsel Surprise

A Tinsel Surprise
Re-Discovery of the Gray Tinsel (Catapaecilma major emas)

A Gray Tinsel shot on Singapore island in May 2010

It was on a hot humid Saturday when ButterflyCircle members Nelson Ong and CK Chng were out on their usual weekend butterfly-shooting outing when Nelson spotted something that he had never encountered before. The small butterfly was perched on a leaf in a forested area near a mangrove habitat and allowed him to squeeze off a couple of shots before Chng took his turn at it. But the small skittish butterfly took off rapidly and made its escape amongst the lush vegetation.

When they posted their day's trophies at the ButterflyCircle Forums, it was found that they had shot a rare Lycaenid that had not been seen for quite some time. Listed on the early authors' checklists, this species, the Gray Tinsel (Catapaecilma major emas) had not been reliably identified until Nelson's excellent shot of this species recently at the end of May 2010.

A Gray Tinsel shot in Oct 2004 at Pulau Ubin

We now officially record the existence of the Gray Tinsel as a re-discovery and add it to the Singapore Checklist as species #295. Congratulations to Nelson and Chng for confirming the existence of this elusive species that was first recorded by ButterflyCircle member Tan Chung Pheng on the offshore island of Pulau Ubin in Oct 2004! The record shot was not totally clear enough to establish the identity of the species and we had put it as Catapaecilma sp., until the day that a better shot became available.

The Gray Tinsel is described as an uncommon butterfly with a wingspan of 32-40mm. The butterflies are said to frequent secondary growth and lowland forests. The upperside of the male of the Gray Tinsel is purple blue above with a narrow submarginal border on both wings. The female is a light shining blue with broader black submarginal borders. The underside is pale buff brown with reddish brown striae infilled with silver markings broken up into separate rather irregular spots. Both sexes have three pairs of filamentous tails of which the middle pair is the longest. The legs of the the butterfly are remarkably hairy.

Caterpillars of this species have been recorded on the host plant of Terminalia paniculata.

A collage of Gray Tinsel shots taken on Koh Samui, Thailand

The butterfly has a rapid flight but has been observed to return to favourite perches with partially opened wings at certain times of the day. The species is said to be more common on the Thai island of Koh Samui, where our northern ButterflyCircle "correspondent", Leslie Day resides. The shots below are courtesy of Les, LC Goh and Matthew, who encountered the Gray Tinsel on their outings at Koh Samui.

A Gray Tinsel shot at Koh Samui, Thailand

So the Singapore Butterfly Checklist slowly, but surely inches towards the 300 mark with the addition of the Gray Tinsel as species #295, and we look forward to more discoveries and re-discoveries in the coming months.

Text by Khew SK : Photos by CK Chng, Leslie Day, Nelson Ong & Matthew

Gentle Giants of Gopeng

Gentle Giants of Gopeng

On a bloodthirsty hunt for almost mythic dragons* and Rajahs*, I piggy-backed onto the Chirs’ family horse (Toyota sedan) and galloped at full speed for Gopeng, all decked out in shiny Canon gear.

Gopeng is a town located in Mukim Teja, District of Kampar, Perak, Malaysia. The old town once famous for gold and tin mining is located on the west side of the North-South Expressway stretch of Tapah-Simpang Pulai. Gentle giants of limestone hills and the Titiwangsa Mountains shrouded in mist are visible from the expressway, making the view of the Tapah-Gopeng stretch one of the most picturesque areas on the west side of Peninsular Malaysia.



The River Of Kings (Kuala Woh)

After 5 hours of Sunny-style speed, we arrived at Kuala Woh (pronounced colloquially: Koala Whoa!) where shortly after tripping down the stone steps, Canon shaking with anticipation, we came in contact with not one, not two but a full battalion of Rajah Brooke Birdwings.

Rajah Brooke's Birdwings are distasteful to predators and are brazenly coloured in magnificent green, black and red. They fly with a majestic, nonchalant rhythm across the sparkling river in full view of birds and puddle in numbers on the bare exposed ground like a hungry skink’s wet dream.

River of Kings

The young of these regal Kings of butterflies feed on Aristolochia foveolata which contain the toxic aristolochic acid. The poison is retained in the young of these princes into adulthood. It was observed that this sub-species albescens is not the same as the subspecies trogon encountered in Endau Rompin.

Kuala Woh is a recreation area which hugs the Batang Padang River. Amongst the huge rocks that encrust the sides of the river, wafting steam wavers over the gentle water in the sunlight from seeping hot springs on the river banks.



Attracted to the minerals in the hot springs and little feet impervious to the heat, other butterflies gather in a mysteriously exclusive group (away from the large Rajahs) like the lesser peasants in a kingdom of sand and stone.

This motley crowd consisted of a variety of species shown below, of which a particular butterfly stood out in a remarkable spatter of green jewels. Like ladies-in-waiting, the Lemon emigrants hem the Spotted Jay from view and all attempts on capturing and isolating the Jay’s beauty in the hot bare sand were in vain.



The Rafflesia Trek (Adeline Rumah Rehat)

Early the next morning, I rode on the open back of a 4WD through a peaceful little Orang Asli village to the Rafflesia trek near Adeline rumah rehat, a hideaway in Kampung Geruntum near Sungai ltek, just 7 Km from the Perak town of Gopeng.



In the midst of worrying about the camera falling into the streams while navigating slippery rocks and attempting to climb up faster than the leeches can slinky themselves onto my shoes, the Orang Asli guide spotted a rare Malayan Jungle Glory and Sunny’s sharp eyes caught the glimpse of a Dark evening brown lurking in the leech-infested shadows. I didn’t spot anything, except for about 30 leeches of different shapes, lengths and sizes.

Andrew, a UK-educated Iban from Sarawak with trunks for legs and a handshake that breaks wrists, explained while hopping uncharacteristically (of most stocky heavily muscled men) across rocks and streams that the Rafflesia flower which grew in these parts did not have the pungent smell of those found in other parts of Malaysia.

The Rafflesia, known locally as Bungka Pakma, literally translated as Flower Lotus, is used by women to shrink the womb and regain their figure after childbirth. The flower feeds on flies and other insects and is carnivorous. The thick petals of the flower are smooth and waxy to the touch.

Andrew did not like my dislike for leeches [*sprrraaayyy*]. However, that did nothing to lessen my dislike for leeches or his likeability. He said, likeably, over the sounds of my enthusiastic spraying: “Leeches are part of Nature too. You should be compassionate.”

For all the knowledge that certain leeches have great medicinal value, Tiger leeches cause considerable pain and itching when bitten. Compassionate? *sppprraaayyy*

We were visibly disappointed when we finally hurled ourselves up the 70 degree incline to see the sole Rafflesia flower at the foot of a tree looking despondently in a 70 degree incline towards the ground. Andrew’s muscles hopped overtime over the top of the hill to find a more cooperative impressive flower but found none.

The Rafflesia flower is parasitic and takes 9 months to bloom, beginning from a marble sized bud on the ground or host tree and lives for only a few days. Chances of seeing a blooming Rafflesia is almost like Russian roulette. You never know what you are going to get after a long hopeful hike up so every bloom is precious.

Not to be undone (and not waiting for the leeches to slinky hither), I stuck my G10 in front of the despondent flower and came out with a result that was much better than I had anticipated.



Our fun posing behind the Rafflesia didn’t last long as the rubber slinkies soon found us and before I knew it, I was almost abseiling downwards screaming at the desperate slinkies trailing after.

As a parting shot on behalf of his rubber slinky friends of Nature, Andrew said: “For all that screaming, it doesn’t look like you got bitten much at all.” And ironically, it was the quiet princess of the Chir family that was bitten by two leeches instead.

The Dragons’ Moat (Gua Tempurong)

The second last leg of our adventure consisted of the trails around and along the Sungai Gua Tempurong, a underground river which runs through one of Gopeng’s most popular limestone caves.

Gua Tempurong is one of the longest caves in Peninsula Malaysia and runs 1.6km in the heart of a large limestone hill.



For all the activities which are listed as attractions in Gua Tempurong, the area along the river which flows out from the mountainside and along the foot of the mountain like a moat is an urban family park, complete with facilities, amenities and potted plants.

Around this unexpected setting, many species of butterflies were found fluttering around potted flowers, and urban flora:

The wide expanse of road leading to Gua Tempurong is pocked with many tempting trails going into the bush. Short explorations here revealed breathtaking scenery and a number of grass species like the Lemon Pansy (Junonia lemonias lemonias)

The main attraction at Gua Tempurong (for butterfly enthusiasts) lies just at the mouth of the cave where the underground river meets the daylight and flows into a moat around the foot of the hill.

Just as the sun peeks over the top of the hill, Great Marquis began to float from the treetops onto the sand banks, chasing each other and watching passersby curiously like children at play.

Following the Marquis, tiny Fluffy Tits and Rohana parisatis siamensis began to gather, mostly on soggy, salted equipment, settling on skin, in hair and demonstrating enthusiastic over-friendliness.

And then the dragons began to descend upon us. Tiny, ribbon-like, frail little white dragontails hovering like bees over the banks. At first one, then two, and then many more, quivering their short little wings and very long tails rapidly like the flirtatious eyelash.

White Dragontails at Gua Tempurong, Gopeng

The timing for sighting this species is uncannily impeccable. They are like tiny fluttering timepieces. Any earlier or later and you would not get to see these dragons at all.

Cascading Falls (Lata Kinjang)

Our last adventure ended in Lata Kinjang ( literally translated: “cascading falls”), a large waterfall near Chenderiang which can be visibly seen from the expressway. The area is a popular family hangout on weekends and it was thronged with people.



Trailing secretly away from the waterfall, obscured by vegetation and eroded bridges and mudbanks, we found footpaths leading to neighbouring Orang Asli villages and up to abandoned houses and huts further up the waterfall.

Here we sighted two different subspecies of the Autumn Leaf, Flats and a variety of damselflies.

With the spirit for adventure temporarily satiated, batteries running on empty and a pair of 2 year old shoes which had worn themselves away, we stopped by Kuala Woh again, where, we watched the river gently flow under the hypnotic wingbeat of the large Kings flying overhead, before returning back to our individual urban realities.

Text by Ellen Tan : Photos and Videos by Ellen Tan ; Photos by Sunny Chir