Butterflies of
Thailand, Malaysia &
Borneo
Elegant Satyr
Erites elegans
BUTLER, 1868
Family - NYMPHALIDAE
subfamily -
SATYRINAE
Tribe - SATYRINI
subtribe - ERITINA
introduction
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habitats |
lifecycle |
adult behaviour
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Erites
elegans,
Taman Negara, West Malaysia |
Introduction
There are 5 members of this attractive genus variously found in
Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, West Malaysia, Singapore,
Sumatra, Borneo and Java.
Erites are a group of scarce,
localised and elusive butterflies, of which
elegans is the rarest species in
Malaysia. It also occurs in Sumatra and Borneo where it is
equally scarce.
Habitats
This species is found in primary rainforest at elevations below
about 300 metres. It seems to occur close to streams or
tributaries, and is most often encountered in the rainy season.
Lifecycle
The lifecycle is unknown for all of the
Erites species, but it is possible to make educated
guesses based on related genera :
The eggs for example will almost certainly be spherical with a
slightly flattened base, and are likely to be laid singly on
leaves of the foodplant.
The larva will be green or brownish, almost certainly with thin
dark lines running the length of the back and sides. It will
have a dark head armed with a pair of short curved horns, and
there will be a pair of caudal prongs on the anal segment. Like
all Satyrines it will be a crepuscular or nocturnal feeder, and
the larval foodplant will be some kind of monocotyledon (
grasses, palms, bamboos ).
As
Erites are deep forest species,
grasses can be eliminated as a possibility. All the adults which
I have found were seen close to palms, making these the most
likely foodplants, although bamboos cannot be ruled out.
Adult behaviour
The butterflies are rare and very localised, but normally if one
is found there will be several others nearby. This tends to
indicate that the larval foodplant is a scarce and localised
plant, as the insect would otherwise be more evenly distributed
in the forest.
Both sexes are
in the words of Corbet & Pendlebury " feeble in flight and
furtive in habit". They are only active for short periods, and
seemingly favour overcast humid conditions. My experience is
that they congregate around a particular specimen of (
unidentified ) palm, where individual males will sit for for
several minutes at a time on a chosen leaf, and that if
disturbed they return to the same leaf as soon as they sense it
is safe to do so. Half an hour later however they will be
nowhere to be seen, and no amount of trampling around in the
undergrowth will arouse them, indicating that they probably
migrate to and from these places during the course of the day.
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