Butterflies of
Thailand, Malaysia &
Borneo
Cruiser
Vindula dejone
ERICHSON, 1834
Family - NYMPHALIDAE
subfamily -
HELICONIINAE
Tribe - VAGRANTINI
introduction
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habitats |
lifecycle |
adult behaviour
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Vindula dejone,
male, Bukit Tapah,
West Malaysia |
Introduction
The gorgeously coloured Cruiser is one of the most familiar
species in the Oriental region, but it is only the male which
has the dazzling orange wings - like all members of the genus
Vindula this species is sexually
dimorphic.
The females
are similar to the bright orange males in pattern, but have a
grey ground colour, and a broad white post-median band extending
across both wings.
The genus comprises of 4 species, erota,
arsinoe,
dejone and sapor. The latter
is endemic to the Solomon Islands and Bougainville. The others
have a much wider distribution - erota
and dejone being found across much
of the Oriental region, and arsinoe
on Papua New Guinea and in north-eastern Australia.
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Vindula dejone,
male, Bukit Tapah,
West Malaysia |
Habitats
In Malaysia this butterfly is found in primary rainforest at
elevations between sea level and about 500m. It can sometimes be
found in light gaps deep within the forest, but is very much a
sun-loving species and generally keeps to forest edge habitats
e.g. riverbanks, roads and village gardens.
Lifecycle
The eggs are barrel-shaped and ribbed, and vary in colour from
straw-coloured to a dirty mottled brown. They are laid at
various angles in a row, along a thin tendril of a
Passiflora or
Adenia vine.
The caterpillar when fully grown is blackish, with grey patches
along the sides, and a pale greenish broken line along the back.
The head has a pair of long tentacle-like horns, and each
segment is armed with dorsal and lateral spines.
The chrysalis
is one of the most amazing examples of camouflage in the
butterfly world, looking exactly like a piece of dead, dry,
twisted, half-decomposed leaf, and
according to
one's beliefs, is either one of evolutions finest adaptations or
one of God's most amazing creations.
It is a dirty
pale brown colour, marked on the dorsal surface with numerous
fine dark lines patterned like the minor veins and capillaries
on a dead leaf. A dark lateral line extends from the tail,
looping around the wing cases, which are dark greyish brown,
with the veins picked out in blackish. The dorsal surface
carries a pair of large flat protuberances shaped like bits of
broken twisted leaf. A remarkable object to say the very least.
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Vindula dejone,
Eurema simulatrix and
Graphium sarpedon, Taman Negara,
West Malaysia |
Adult behaviour
Males are
usually seen in one's and two's imbibing moisture on sandbanks
in full sunshine.
They also feed at carrion and rotting fruit. At these times they
usually keep their wings outspread, but in particularly hot
conditions they will hold them erect. They are not usually
nervous, and can be approached quite closely, but if
deliberately disturbed they fly off rapidly and do not generally
return to resume feeding.
Females are
seen much less commonly, but can sometimes be found nectaring on
flowering bushes including Lantana,
Ixora and
Rhododendron.
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Vindula dejone,
male, Taman Negara,
West Malaysia |
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