Butterflies of the World - Lifecycle, Ecology, Taxonomy, Conservation, Photography, Butterfly Holidays, Photo Galleries, Book Reviews and more.........
Text and photographs protected by Copyright © Adrian Hoskins 2007, and must not be published in part or in whole elsewhere without prior written permission from the author.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
 
Long-banded Silverline
Spindasis lohita HORSFIELD, 1829
Family - LYCAENIDAE
subfamily - LYCAENINAE
Tribe - APHNAEINI
 
 introduction | habitats | lifecycle | adult behaviour
 
Spindasis lohita, Sungai Tembeling, Taman Negara, West Malaysia
 
Introduction
 
There are 49 species in the genus Spindasis, of which 29 are African, and the remainder Oriental. Peninsular Malaysia has 5 species - syama, lohita, seliga, kutu and vixinga. All of these except kutu also occur on Borneo.
 
The pattern of silver stripes functions to direct the attention of avian predators away from the butterfly's head, and towards the tornus. The bright orange tornal spot, and the white-tipped "false antennae" tails, which are wiggled while the butterfly rests, add further to the illusion that the butterfly is facing right ( and therefore likely to attempt to escape predation by flying off in that direction ), when it is actually facing left. An attacking bird will be fooled into aiming it's beak to the right of the butterfly - which then makes it's escape leftwards.
 
Habitats
 
Most of the African species, and some of those from the Oriental region, are found on savannah or dry scrubby grassland habitats, while others are montane species. The illustrated species lohita however is a forest insect, usually seen in light gaps or along wide trails. The photograph above depicts an individual seen perching on a rock on a sandbar in the middle of a tributary of the Tembeling river in peninsular Malaysia.
 
Lifecycle
 
The caterpillar is dark green, mottled with paler markings. It feeds on the foliage of the shrubs Dioscorea, Xylia, and Psidium, and is attended by ants, which "milk" it to obtain sugary secretions. It lives, and eventually pupates, within a shelter constructed from fragments of bark or stem.
 
Adult behaviour

 

Both sexes are always encountered singly, and are usually seen when resting on the foliage of trees or shrubs at a height of about 2 - 3m above the ground. They have a rapid fluttery flight which is difficult to follow with the eye.

 

Males sometimes visit sandbanks, where they perch on rocks or stones, always with the "false antennae" raised higher than the true antennae. Upon landing they wiggle the tails for a few moments, but once they have assessed that they are in no immediate danger from predators, they stop this activity and remain perfectly still.

 
                                                        
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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