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Saturday, May 2, 2009

Malaysia’s Butterfly - Horsefield's Baron (Tanaecia iapis puseda)

I find it intriguing and interesting that butterflies like the Horsfield's Baron wing pattern can look so different in their male and female form but than, that is because they are dimorphic. Dimorphism is defined in Wikipedia as the systematic difference in form between individuals of different sex in the same species.

Female
In the case of the Horsefield’s Baron, the male has a black upper side with a blue border on
the hind wings while the female is greyish brown with luminous shadings of light bright blue. It is sometimes hard to tell the difference from another species especially for the female, as it looks almost similar to the Malay Viscount which has almost the same colors and markings on the wings.

Male

This species is quite common as I come across them quite often on bright sunny days, the males being the more often encountered ones.

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