"Rainbow Bridge" A huge artwork made of butterfly specimens

"Rainbow Bridge" A huge artwork made of butterfly specimens

　Above photo is the huge artwork made of numerous butterfly specimens such as Great Purple Emperor (Sasakia charonda), Morpho spp., Delias spp. and so on. You can see this great work in the 10-year anniversary special exhibition held at Kitakyushu Museum of Natural History and Human History. Dr. Kyoichiro UEDA, the curator at this museum and the trustee of our society, will be welcoming you.

[Movie File] Fischer's Cupid (Tongeia fischeri)

[Movie File] Fischer's Cupid (Tongeia fischeri) 　

Fischer's Cupid (Tongeia fischeri) is a small Lycaenid butterfly which ranges broadly in eastern Eurasia. In Japan it can be seen from central to southern district. This species is popular among some Japanese butterfly enthusiasts because it flies until late in autumn after other butterfly species disappear. In addition it has a slight local variation in its wing markings, so some enthusiasts are eagerly collecting as many specimens as possible from various localities. Larva feeds on succulent plants such as Orostachys japonica.

(Matsumoto-shi, Nagano, JAPAN October 2012)

 

 ▲A adult butterfly basking. Blackish upperside has faint gloss under sunlight.



▲Foodplant; Orostachys japonica In autumn numerous small collective flowers bloom in ears. These flowers are good nectaring sources for adult butterflies.

 

 



The Constable (Genus Dichorragia) and its allies (Part 2)

▲Dichorragia nesimachus pelurius(C. Sulawesi, Indoneia)

[preserved in RIEB, Tokyo]

   Continued to the previous post, the Constable (Genus Dichorragia) and its allies are introduced. First of all, Dichorragia nesimachus has many sub-species especially in southeastern Asian Islands. One of the examples is shown above. This is the subspecies endemic to Sulawesi, Indonesia. It is much larger in size and the pointed apex in forewings is quite different from Japanese subspecies.

▲Stibochiona nicea (Yunnan, China)

[preserved in RIEB, Tokyo]

▲Stibochiona coresia (Sumatra, Indonesia)

[preserved in RIEB, Tokyo]

 

   The above two species belong to Genus Stibochiona. This small Genus contains three species from India to southeastern Asian islands. Among them, Stibochiona nicea is confined to continental Asia from India to China including Indochina and Malaysia. Another species, Stibochiona coresia is known from Sumatra and Java in Indonesia. Both species seem to be allied species of Dichorragia nesimachus from thier wing markings. 

 

▲Amnosia decora (Sumatra, Indonesia)

[preserved in RIEB, Tokyo]

▲Ditto, Underside

 

   On the other hand, there is a very interesting species in Malaysia and Indonesia. Amnosia decora seems to belong to Amathusiinae or Satyrinae at a glance. But this species is definitely the allied species of Dichorragia nesimachus, considering its early stages. Amnosia is monotypic genus, this species is known from Malay Peninsula to Sumatra or Java.

　



The Constable (Genus Dichorragia) and its allies

 

 ▲A pupa of Dichorragia nesimachus

▲A newly emerged adult butterfly of Dichorragia nesimachus

▲A red proboscis of Dichorragia nesimachus

 

 The Constable (Genus Dichorragia) and its allies

The author of this blog happened to obtain the pupa of the Constable (Dichorragia nesimachus) the other day. The shape of the pupa looks quite similar to a dead leaf. Unexpectedly the adult butterfly has emerged from the pupa because of the warm weather in Tokyo. Thus here the author of this blog would like to introduce this beautiful Nymphalid butterfly.

The Constable (Dichorragia nesimachus) ranges rather broadly from Nepal or northern India in the west to New Guinea in the east. In Japan northern Honshu (mainland) is the northernmost of its distribution. Genus Dichorragia contains only three species, namely ninus (Moluccas and PNG), nisseus (SW China) and this species. A Chinese species, nisseus is shown above compared with nesimachus. Some researchers argue that nisseus is only a sub-species or mere variation of nesimachus, however it is likely to be a independent species.

▲D. nisseus(Sichuan, China) and D. nesimachus (Yunnan, China)

 

 The Tabby (Pseudergolis wedah) is known to one of allied species of  Genus Dichorragia although its wing markings are quite different from each other. But if one can study the early stages especially the pupa of both species, it can be easily understood that they are closely related. The figure shown above is from our journal "Butterflies" No.17.

▲Early stages of Pseudergolis wedah (after Butterflies No.17)

[Reference]
Harada, M. 1997, Early stages of Pseudergolis wedah in Sichuan, China. Butterflies 17:15-17.