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Text and photographs protected by Copyright © Adrian Hoskins 2007, and must not be published in part or in whole elsewhere without prior written permission from the author.
Butterflies of Malaysia and Borneo
 
Branded Imperial
Eooxylides tharis GEYER, 1837
Family - LYCAENIDAE
subfamily - THECLINAE
Tribe - EUMAEINI
 
 introduction | habitats | lifecycle | adult behaviour
 
Eooxylides tharis distanti, female, Tapah, West Malaysia
 
Introduction
 
There are several hundred Lycaenid species in the Oriental region, but the exact number is unknown, as the systematics are rather confused.
 
The Theclinae ( Hairstreaks ) have about 270 representatives in Sundaland, the region that encompasses the Malay peninsula, Borneo, Sumatra, Java and Palawan.
 
There are several genera which contain species with long tails, orange undersides, and black and white markings in the distal area, including Thamala, Eooxylides, Drupadia, Cheritra, Neocheritra, Thrix and Zeltus.
 
Eooxylides tharis is undoubtedly the most beautiful species from the genera listed above. It is recognised by it's particularly brilliant orange underside colouration, very distinctive markings, and the combination of 3 white tails, the central of which is extraordinarily long and curled into a twist. The upperside wings are blackish brown, with broken white markings in the distal area of the hindwings.
 
The butterfly occurs in peninsular Malaysia, Borneo, Sumatra, Java and Thailand.
 
Another very similar species Eooxylides etias occurs also in Borneo, but is a duller shade of orange, and on the upperside lacks the white distal markings, these being replaced by a flush of powdery blue scales.
 
Habitats
 
This species is found in wet rainforest areas at elevations between sea level and about 1000m.
 
Lifecycle
 
Virtually unknown.
 
In August 2004 at Tapah Hills in Malaysia, I observed a female ovipositing on a sapling growing isolated in full sunlight at the side of a mountain road. The eggs were white, and laid in loose clusters of about a dozen or so, wrapped around the tip of a dry woody sprig.
 
The only published data that I can find refers to a larva found on Smilax, which was described as being smooth, green and flushed with red.
 
Adult behaviour

 

Females are usually encountered singly, when searching for oviposition sites.

 

Males are normally found in small groups of about 3 or 4, often seen walking about on the stems of bushes in shady area of disturbed forest. I have often found them congregating on the stems of shrubs, feeding at the sticky secretions of aphid or membracids. On more than one occasion I have found males head-locked together, although this appeared to be the result of an eagerness to feed, rather than aggression.

 
                                                        
In common with most other butterflies in Malaysia, Borneo and Palawan, the habitats of this species are severely endangered. Rainforest only remains on the steepest mountain-sides, and at a small number of nature reserves. Many of the reserves are now threatened with reclassification and subsequent exploitation at the hands of major international companies.
 
Tragically, the huge areas of tropical rainforest which once covered the lowlands of West Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak have been almost entirely cleared, with only a few "islands" of original forest remaining, surrounded by vast oil palm plantations.
 
The forests of Kalimantan ( the Indonesian sector of Borneo ) have suffered a similar fate, and what little remains is now under severe threat,
as the protected status of nature reserves is being revoked to make way for concession areas that will be subjected to open cast coal mines, logging, and clearance for immense oil palm plantations to satisfy the demand for bio-diesel fuel.
 
The extent of the devastation is immense, and the consequences catastrophic, not only for butterflies, but also for orang-utans, proboscis monkeys, hornbills, and myriads of other mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and insects - our natural heritage is being annihilated.
 
You can help prevent further devastation - please lobby your governments, and contact the rainforest conservation organisations who organise on-line petitions and use scientific evidence to apply pressure to the governments of Malaysia and Indonesia to halt the devastation.
 
 
Text and photographs protected by Copyright © Adrian Hoskins 2007-2008, and must not be reproduced or published in part or in whole elsewhere in any form without written permission from Adrian Hoskins. Breach of copyright will be pursued by litigation.
 
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