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| [Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note |
Pathysa antiphates The Five Bar Swordtail
The Swordtails are remarkable for the very long, slender and tapering tail at vein 4 on the hindwing. They are forest butterflies, swift on the wing, and apt to be mistaken for Pierids. The males may be found congregated at moist spots, but the females are always rare. So far, Trek Nature has only one photo of any species from this genus P.nomius Esper. So here is another new species for TN.
P. antiphates was known to Linnaeus from a Chinese specimen, but it was some years later before it was described and named by Cramer, who likewise had a Chinese specimen before him.
P. antiphates is creamy white above, with a series of black transverse stripes in the costal area of the forewing. The inter-spaces are diffused with green. On the underside the basal half of the hindwing is green, with black stripes and spots, and the distal half is ochreous. The larva is green speckled with black and is reported as feeding on Annona lawii a climbing shrub of the Annonaceae in the Malay Peninsula.
The individual shown here is from Brunei, in Borneo, and is of the sub-species itamputi Butler. Other sub-species are named from India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Indo-China, S E China, Hainan, Malaysia and many Indonesian islands, but not from Sulawesi, from where no less than three endemic Pathysa species originate. This is a male butterfly taking salts from a damp river bed in the primary rain forest of Eastern Brunei.
The picture is again from an old slide, scanned, retouched, cropped, resized and sharpened for TN. |
JoseMiguel, jcoowanitwong has marked this note useful
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Hi Allan,
A beautiful specimen of swordtail.
I like a lot its vivid colours and patterns on the wings.
The high POV came out in an excellent one for the composition.
Congratulations and thanks for share.
My best regards,
JM
Hi Allan,
Beautiful picture of this forest butterfly. Well seen in this natural setting. Thanks for your educative note.
JC
Hi Alan, fascinating butterfly with fantastic colors, splendid details and great sharpness, very well done, ciao Silvio
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