134. Prioneris philonome clemanthe (The Red-spotted Sawtooth)

Number: 134

Family: Pieriidae
Sub-Family: Pieriinae

Species: Prioneris philonome clemanthe (Doubleday, 1846)

Common name(s): The Red-spotted Sawtooth

Photography location: Tam Dao foothills (Vinh Phuc Prov.)

The genus Prioneris comprises 6 species, all occuring in the Oriental region. Two are recorded in Vietnam - thestylis and philonome. Both are common species throughout the country.

Prioneris philonome is quite similar to Prioneris thestylis but UnH has a small orange-red basal spot and 4/5 of UnH is yellow in male.

 Male Prioneris philonome - yellow is more extensive in female (Tam Dao, June 2016)

Same male specimen, showing its upperwings - female is much darker above

Interesting shot of males Prioneris philonome (top) and Prioneris thestylis (The Spotted Sawtooth) side by side
Other species included Graphium doson (Common Jay), on the right

Mud-puddling males Prioneris philonome

A male Prioneris philonome surrounded by Appias albina

133. Prioneris thestylis thestylis (The Spotted Sawtooth)

Number: 133

Family: Pieriidae
Sub-Family: Pieriinae

Species: Prioneris thestylis thestylis (Doubleday, 1842)

Common name(s): The Spotted Sawtooth

Photography location: Tam Dao foothills (Vinh Phuc Prov.)

Male bears serrate edge at the upper margins of FW where its common name comes from.  UnH of female is much yellow than in the male. All individuals photographed below are males.

The genus Prioneris comprises 6 species, all occuring in the Oriental region. Two are recorded in Vietnam - thestylis and philonome. Both are common species throughout the country. They are found in forested areas, often puddling with other Pierids and Papilionids.

Male Prioneris thestylis

Male Prioneris thestylis showing its white upperwings with black margins that contain white post-cellular spots - female is darker with a broad yellow patch at HW just bellow the cell
Male bears serrate edge at costa of FW where its common english name comes from

Males Prioneris thestylis and Prioneris philonome (Red-spotted Sawtooth - top left) side by side
Other species included Cyrestis thyodamas (Common Map), Graphium doson (Common Jay), Appias lyncida (Chocolate Albatross), Ixias pyrene (Yellow Orange Tip)

Puddle party with males P. thestylis, Catopsila pomona pomona f. catilla (Lemon Emigrant - on the left), Appias albina (Common Albatross - foreground)

Congregation of males drinking water on rocks along a stream

Male drinking moisture from wet sand at a stream bank 

132. Phalanta alcippe alcippoides (The Small Leopard)

Number: 132

Family: Nymphaliidae
Sub-Family: Heliconiinae

Species: Phalanta alcippe alcippoides (Moore, 1900)

Common name(s): The Small Leopard

Photography location: Cuc Phuong N.P. (Ninh Binh Prov.)

The genus Phalanta ("Leopards") comprising 6 species, of which 2 are present in the Oriental region - alcippe and phalantha. Both are also present in Vietnam.

Phalanta alcippe is a wide-ranging Indo-Malayan species known from India to Borneo. This is the less common, and smaller, of the two Phalanta species. It is found in forest clearings and forest edges.

Specimen perched on my motorbike during a trip at Cuc Phuong N.P.
Butterflies are often attracted by my sweaty clothes – and here, in Vietnam, you sweat A LOT – but also by my motorbike – an unresolved mystery!

131. Cyrestis cocles cocles (The Marbled Map)

Number: 131

Family: Nymphaliidae
Sub-Family: Cyrestiinae

Species: Cyrestis cocles cocles (Fabricius, 1787)

Common name(s): The Marbled Map

Photography location: Cuc Phuong N.P. (Ninh Binh Prov.)

The genus Cyrestis (“Maps”) comprises around 25 species, all except one (C. camillus/African Map) from Oriental Region. According to Monastyrskii & Devyatkin (2016), 4 Cyrestis species are currently known in Vietnam viz. themire, cocles, thyodamas and nivea.
C. cocles ranges from N.-E. India to Borneo.

Puddling congregation of Cyrestis cocles in forest - high density!

Cyrestis themire (Little Map - left) and C. cocles 

Three species of Cyrestis: C. themire (Little Map, left), C. thyodamas (Common Map) and C. cocles.

A much paler specimen (dry season form?).

Often rest beneath leaves with wings outspread

130. Cyrestis themire vatinia (The Little Map)

Number: 130

Family: Nymphaliidae
Sub-Family: Cyrestiinae

Species: Cyrestis themire vatinia Fruhstorfer, 1901

Common name(s): The Little Map

Photography location: Cuc Phuong N.P. (Ninh Binh Prov.)

The genus Cyrestis (“Maps”) comprises around 25 species, all except one (C. camillus/African Map) from Oriental Region. According to Monastyrskii & Devyatkin (2016), 4 Cyrestis species are currently known in Vietnam viz. themire, cocles, thyodamas and nivea. 

C. themire ranges from Myanmar to Indonesia.

 Cyrestis themire vatinia puddling on the forest floor, Cuc Phuong N.P.

 Cyrestis themire vatinia, underwing pattern

 C. themire (left) with a Marbled Map (C. cocles).

 One C. themire with three C. cocles.

129. Cyrestis thyodamas thyodamas (The Common Map)

Number: 129

Family: Nymphaliidae
Sub-Family: Cyrestiinae

Species: Cyrestis thyodamas thyodamas Doyère, [1840]

Common name(s): The Common Map

Photography location: Cuc Phuong N.P. (Ninh Binh Prov.)

The genus Cyrestis (“Maps”) comprises around 25 species, all except one (C. camillus/African Map) from Oriental Region. According to Monastyrskii & Devyatkin (2016), 4 Cyrestis species are currently known in Vietnam viz. themire, cocles, thyodamas and nivea. 

C. thyodamas ranges from India to Vietnam (N., C. & S.) and north to Japan.

Cyrestis thyodamas - really nice and interesting underwing pattern

Usually encountered singly or in two's and three's, in forest edge habitats, on gravel roads or along water courses, puddling with wings fully expanded

 Puddling congregation of Cyrestis thyodamas, with Pseudergolis wedah, Vindula erota, Symbrenthia hypselis, Heriophorus sp...

Another congregation of puddling butterflies in Cuc Phuong, with Vidula erota and 3 species of Cyrestis (C. themire, C. thyodamas and C. cocles)

Three species of Cyrestis side by side: mainly C. thyodamas and C. cocles + two (blurry) C. themire at the bottom of the image

128. Chilasa clytia (The Common Mime)

Number: 128

Family: Papilioniidae
Sub-Family: Papilioniinae

Species:  Chilasa clytia Linnaeus, 1758

Common name(s): The Common Mime

Photography location: Tam Dao foothills (Vinh Phuc Prov.)

Monastyrskii & Devyatkin (2016) listed 6 Chilasa species in Vietnam viz. agestor, epycides, slateri, clytia, paradoxa and imitata - the last one described in 2003 from central Vietnam. C. clytia is certainly the commonest Chilasa species in Vietnam. It can be encountered in different types of open or semi-open habitats, even agroecosystems, whereas the other Chilasa have more more specific habitat requirements. 

Chilasa clytia caterpillars feeds on Litsea glutinosa, a common tree in secondary growth, and probably feeds on other species of Lauraceae in evergreen forest. This species has many different forms in both sexes, which mimic various species of Euploea and Parantica.

This is a variable species, they generally occur in two main groups of forms, brown and black forms with white markings. Forms present in Vietnam including, at least, f. clytia, f. onpape, f. janus, f. papone, f. panope, f. dissimilis, f. dissimillima, f. vitalisi.

Chilasa clytia feeding on Duranta erecta - an extremely popular nectar source for a wide variety of butterflies. Widely cultivated as an ornamental plant in tropical and subtropical gardens throughout the world, and has become naturalized in many places

Presumably f. dissimilis - f. dissimillima is very similar but white streaks appear sullied (unsullied in dissimilis)

 The form dissimilis is regarded as mimic of some Danainae species such as Tirumala limniace, Parantica melaneus...

Chilasa clytia on Bidens flower

Chilasa clytia sucking water on rocks along a stream (June 2016)

Side by side with Papilio polytes and Graphium doson

Four species of Papilionidae puddling together : Chilasa clythia, Papilio polytes, Papilio nephelus, Graphium doson

127. Suada albolineata (The Streaky Grass Bob)

Number: 127

Family: Hesperiidae
Sub-Family: Hesperiinae

Species: Suada albolineata Devyatkin, 2000

Common name(s): The Streaky Grass Bob

Photography location: Huu Lien N.R. (Lang Son Prov.), Tam Dao (Vinh Phuc Prov.)

This species is most closely related to S. swerga (De Niceville, [1884]), the upperside pattern of both species being practically identical. Fresh specimens of S. albolineata can be easily distinguished by the strikingly contrasting veins of the underside; for worn specimens examination of the genitalia is helpful.
I have founded this newly described species at Huu Lien and Tam Dao. It seems to be widely distributed all over the country, its distribution thus overlapping with that of its close rela­tive S. swerga (Devyatkin and al., 2003).

ID credit: A.L. Monastyrskii
(Huu Lien N.R.)

 Another individual, from foothills of Tam Dao, basking in the sun in dense forest.

Ditto

A third specimen, from Tam Dao also, photographed on April 2016

References: Devyatkin, A. L. (2000): Hesperiidae of Vietnam, 6. Two new species of the genera Suada de Niceville, 1895 and Quedara Sw inhoe, 1907 (Lepidoptera, Hesperiidae) – PDF here.

126. Leptosia nina nina (The Psyche)

Number: 126

Family: Pieriidae
Sub-Family: Pieriinae

Species: Leptosia nina nina (Fabricius, 1793)

Common name(s): The Psyche, The Wandering Psyche, The Wandering Snowflake

Photography location: Cuc Phuong N.P. (Ninh Binh Prov.)

The genus Leptosia comprises 9 species, all found in Africa, except for L. lignea which is endemic to Sulawesi and L. nina which ranges from India to Australia.

Until now, I only saw Leptosia nina one time, at Cuc Phuong N.P., but I miserably failed to get any decent shots. So I have nothing to show here but a voucher specimen below, sorry for that.
 

125. Discophora deo fruhstorferi (The Banded Duffer)

Number: 125

Family: Nymphaliidae
Sub-Family: Amathusiinae

Species: Discophora deo fruhstorferi Stichel,1901

Common name(s): The Banded Duffer

Photography location: Tam Dao foothills (Vinh Phuc Prov.)

According to Monastyrskii & Devyatkin (2016), the subfamily Amathusiinae is represented in Vietnam by 10 genera: Faunis (5 species), Aemona (7 species), Stichophtalma (8 species), Amathusia (1 species), Amathuxidia (1 species), Zeuxidia (2 species), Thaumantis (1 species), Thauria (1 species), Discophora (4 species), Enispe (3 species).

Discophora species currently known in Vietnam: sondaica, deo, timora and aestheta - the latter described in 2003 from S.Vietnam, Dong Nai Prov., Cat Tien National Park.

Male Discophora deo fruhstorferi - in genus Discophora, sexual dimorphism is well developped

Note the secondary sexual character which is the rounded patch with androconial scales located in the discal cell of the UpH

 Male, underside

124. Parnara cf. ganga (The Continental Swift)

Number: 124

Family: Hesperiidae
Sub-Family: Hesperiinae

Species: Parnara cf. ganga (Evans, 1937)

Common name(s): The Continental Swift

Photography location: Huu Lien Nature Reserve (Lang Son Prov.)

Five Parnara species are listed by Monastyrskii & Devyatkin (2016) from Vietnam viz P. apostata, P. bada, P. ganga, P. batta and P. guttata. The latter flies from China, Korea and Japan to Himalaya and central Asia. 

Parnara species show a great similarity of the external features and it is very difficult to determine with certainty the species only from a photograph. For proper identification, it is better to voucher the specimen to have a complete view of the FW and HW pattern (often incomplete in a shot) and, ideally, to confirm the ID by examination of the genitalia - a matter for specialists.
In the females, the size and spotting pattern are highly variable, this making most of the species almost indistinguishable by the external features. 

Photographed in open agricultural land

A close-up view of the forewing (FW) upperside, illustrating post-discal spots in spaces 2-4, 6-7, no cell spots. Hindwing (HW) discal spots in spaces 2-5 large, spot 6 absent.
FW 13 mm in this specimen

P. guttata is larger (FW 15-19 mm),with both FW cell spots present.
P. apostata is much darker.

In P. bada, HW spots in spaces 2-5 small and irregular and may be absent.

Another supposed Parnara ganga from Mt. Tam Dao (foothills, open area).
Note the position of wings : usually for a Hesperiine, the adults commonly bask with the forewings held at a 45° angle, and the hindwings held flat.

   
References : A revision of the genus Parnara Moore (Lepidoptera, Hesperiidae), with special reference to the Asian species (Chiba & Eliot, 1991) PDF here.

123. Borbo cinnara (The Rice Swift)

Number: 123

Family: Hesperiidae
Sub-Family: Hesperiinae

Species: Borbo cinnara (Wallace, 1866)

Common name(s): The Rice Swift, The Formosan Swift

Photography location: Huu Lien N.R. (Lang Son Prov.)

B. cinnara show ochreous or dull yellow-brown underside, with greenish body hairs.

The hindwing has whitish spots in spaces 2-4 and 6, no cell spot. The spot in space 4 is typically small or even absent (this is the case here).

Borbo cinnara always have a spot 1b in both sexes on the upperside - absent or faint in Pseudoborbo bevani.