Butterfly ID
February 2, 2010
Shot this on a sunny day in an aboriginal village in Pertak. Could you please help id this specie as I couldn’t find it in Corbet & Pendlebury”s Butterflies of the Malay Peninsula.
Buttefly lover
Malaysia

The Rustic

Dear Butterfly Lover,
This is one of the Brush Footed Butterflies in the family Nymphalidae, but we are uncertain of the species.  First we searched the Butterflies of Malaysia website without any luck.  Then we tried the Malaysia Butterfly Checklist, but many of the thumbnails are of the closed wing view.  In clicking through those, we believe you have photographed a Rustic, Cupha erymanthis lotis.  The Malaysia Butterfly Checklist provides this information:  “The Rustic is a relatively common species which stays within the vicinity of the nature reserves. It is often spotted close to where its host plant, Flacourtia rukam can be found. The Rustic is an orange-brown butterfly with a characteristic broad yellow discal patch on the forewings followed by a broad black apical area. In flight, it can sometimes be mistaken for the Banded Yeoman (Cirrochroa orissa orissa). In Singapore, the Banded Yeoman is much rarer.   The Rustic is an active butterfly and usually appears on sunny days. It is an alert butterfly and is difficult to photograph as it flits from leaf to leaf and rarely stops for long. Even when alighted on a perch, its wings are often moving continuously, ready to take off at the slightest distraction.   The underside of this species is paler than the upperside, but with similar markings as above.“

Striped anglewing butterfly?
January 24, 2010
Thank you for your help in identifying this butterfly found in a jungle, mangrove area on yucatan peninsula in January, 2010.
F Parker
Puerto Morelos, Mexico

Many Banded Daggerwing

Dear F Parker,
This is a Many Banded Daggerwing, Marpesia chiron, a species, according to BugGuide, that ranges from “West Indies and Mexico south to Argentina. Rare stray to south Texas, very rare to Florida and Arizona, one record from Kansas.“  We have previously posted photos of a related species, the Ruddy Daggerwing, but your photo is a first for the Many Banded Daggerwing.  Thanks for the contribution.

December 20, 2009
Attached is a video frame-grab of a milkweed butterfly that we encountered on a hike along the Tenaru River, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands.  The location was about midway between the coast and Tenaru Falls and was videotaped on November 10, 2009.   This is about the best I can do to sharpen the video frame as the butterfly was moving the entire time.  None of the frames with its wings open are any good – way too blurry.
Thanks for your help with the identification of this butterfly as well as the Papilio aegeus and the Callidula sp. moth, all of which were videotaped on the same trail heading up the river to the falls.
Bruce Carlson, Atlanta
Solomon Islands, Tenaru River, Guadalcanal

Blue Tiger

Hi again Bruce,
Thanks for taking the trouble to provide us with a better image.  This is one of the Milkweed Butterflies from the subfamily Danainae which includes the Monarch.  It is Tirumala hamata, the Blue Tiger and the Brisbane Insects website has numerous nice images.  The blue coloration of newly emerged adults fades with time, and your specimen is probably nearing the end of its life.  The Lepidoptera Butterflyhouse website also has images of the caterpillar and chrysalis.

Australian Stamp

The Blue Tiger Butterfly has appeared on several stamps, including one from Australia and one from Samoa.

Samoan Stamp

milkweed butterfly wings open
Sorry that this image isn’t great but it’s the best I could pull out of the video clip.  Thanks for help with the identification.
Bruce

Blue Tiger Butterfly

Can’t find identification for these two insects.
December 8, 2009
I recently visited Iguazu, Argentina (month of November) and got great shots of some insects. Two in particular are intrigueing to me, and yet they are not listed in the Argentine field guide that I bought. Can you help?
sincerely
Iguazu Argentina

Glasswing Butterfly

Dear sincerely,
The image of the butterfly is a Glasswing in the subfamily Ithomiinae.  We found a close match in the species Oleria paula, the Thick-rimmed Clearwing Butterfly, but according to the page that pictures it from Clemson Museum, it flies from Mexico to Panama.  The website indicates:  “The Glasswing butterflies have evolved large clear patches on their wings which help camouflage them while they are flying from one flower to another or while they are perched on a plant. Predators that are looking for lunch may not recognize the Glasswing as a butterfly because their transparent wings break up their outline. Glasswing butterflies feed on nectar from aster flowers. This particular flower is important to their reproduction because male Glasswings obtain a chemical from these flowers that they use in producing their pheromones, chemical scents they use to attract mates.“  Your butterfly is probably in the same genus, but our initial search did not provide an exact species in Argentina.  The other insect is an immature Katydid.

black butterfly with blue spot
November 27, 2009
This is a butterfly specimen I got from my teacher. From the upper view, the bigger front wing is black in colour with some blue spot at the edge. However, with the black wing may appear to be purple blue in colour with the correct light reflection and the colour is shiny. The smaller wing at behind is dull in colour.
The lower view of this butterfly is black in colour with blue spot at the edge.
Kit
Malaysia, tropical rain forest

Crow Butterfly

Hi again Kit,
Again, the Butterflies of Malaysia led us to believe this was one of the Crow Butterflies, and though we found another website with lots of species, we could not find an exact match, but we do believe the genus Euploea is correct.

Comment from Karl
Hi Kit:
I agree that the genus is Euploea, which includes a number of similar looking species. The closest match I could find is Euploea eunice leucogonis, the Blue Branded King Crow. You can go to http://www.sgbug.org/butterflies/spc_info.php?spc_id=374 for a comparison (click on the image for a closer look). Regards.
Karl