Malaysia’s Butterfly – Autumn Leaf (Doleschallia bisaltide pratipa)

This butterfly I notice has a very rapid flight normally seen flying solo along forest and not a very good subject for photography but I get lucky sometimes. A rather common species often encountered during a hot sunny afternoon in a heavily forested environment.

It has dots and lines at the hind wings on a brown background with black tipped fore wings, it certainly stands out along the more mundane species I always see flying close by.

Attempting to identify this species was also challenging as comparison with photos of identified Autumn leaf butterfly shows minor differences in wing markings, my conclusion is that it is a sub-species of the Autumn leaf unique to this particular region of the country.

My recent Bangkok Trip

Here are some rather interesting places I visited during my recent trip to Bangkok in May.

Wat Pho

Wat Pho is reputedly the largest Wat with the most number of Buddha images in Bangkok and is also famous for the Reclining Buddha statue found in it.

The gold plated reclining Buddha is 46 meters long and 15 meters high. The feet and eyes are decorated with mother-of-pearl

Chao Phraya River

The Chao Phraya river boat trips can be exciting and the scenery along the river is really unique.

Ancient City

The Ancient City, a park dedicated to preserving Thai culture where many buildings and historical places of Thailand is either replicated or painstakingly transferred into the park. If you have only 24 hours to see and absorb Thailand, this would be the place to be.

Crocodile Farm

A visit to the Crocodile Farm in Bangkok is almost a must if you are touring here and you just can’t leave till you pay them a visit. The crocodile and elephant show they have everyday is quite interesting and at the same time it is also a decent size zoo.

Wesak Day Celebration in Taiping

Wesak Day is celebrated by Buddhist throughout the world to commemorate the Birthday of Lord Buddha. It is an auspicious day in the Buddhist calendar, marking the full life cycle of birth, enlightenment and death of Buddha.

It is this day that Buddhist devotees will gather in temples to release birds from captivation and to offer prayers. Other practice includes the offering of alms to monks and giving of free meals to the needy, as symbolic acts of giving liberation and doing good deeds.

Celebration of Wesak as explained by the late Ven. Dr. K Sri Dhammananda holds a special significance for the millions of Buddhists who comprise a fifth of the world’s total population. In thousands of temples across the world from Tokyo in the East to San Francisco in the West, Buddhists will pay homage to an Indian Prince who forsakes the pleasures of a royal household to bring peace and happiness to mankind.

It is also most important to remember that this sacred day is purely and simply a religious festival and not a festive occasion for feasting, drinking and dancing. On this day all Buddhists are expected to reaffirm their faith in the Buddha Dhamma and to lead a noble religious life. It is a day for meditation and for radiating Loving-Kindness.

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.