Butterflies of Taiwan Part 2

Many thanks to 晟智 for driving us to Puli on Saturday 13 June. We left Taipei City early in the morning and  heading south towards the  Nantou Province. After more than 2 hours of journey, we arrived at  our first shooting location - at a stream (I could not remember the name of the place).

My first shot of the day was this Curetis acuta formosana (銀灰蝶) spotted by the sharp eyes of our host.

 I managed to shoot another similar species, the Curetis brunnea (台灣銀灰蝶).

There were some puddling butterflies along a stream. But they were rather skittish and alert to our presence. This Cyrestis thyodamie formasana (網絲蛺蝶) was one of them.

散紋盛蛺蝶 (Symbrenthia lilaea formosana) was another skittish one which didn't stay still on the rocks along the stream.

蓬萊環蛺蝶 (Neptis taiwana) seemed to be rather common at Puli. We found a few of them along the stream.

Its upperside colour is slightly different from other Neptis species.

I must thank 晟智 for highlighting this Grass Yellow  Eurema mandarina  (北黃蝶 ) to me  - it was a different species from what we have in SG. Indeed, the shape of the hindwings are quite different.

There were quite a number Cepora nadina eunama  ( 淡褐脈粉蝶).I managed to get some shots of this guy on a leaf before the arrival of a group of parents and children led by a butterfly enthusiast from Puli for their weekend outing.  

At the second shooting location, a small dirt road besides a farmland, we saw quite a number of puddling butterflies on the ground. The highlight of the day must be this 紅玉翠蛺蝶(Euthalia irrubescens fulguralis). He came down a few times to tease us in the early afternoon.

Another beautiful Euthalia the E. formosana  (台灣翠蛺蝶)kept me busy for awhile .

The undersides are less attractive though.

This 鋸粉蝶 (Prioneris thestylis formosana)  was initially among a  group of  Pieridae puddlers  in the late afternoon.   

This is Seseria formosana (台灣瑟弄蝶)  

When it perched on a leaf for a few seconds I quickly snapped a few shots.

This is the Polyura  narcaea meghaduta (小雙尾蛺蝶)which seemed preferring  to hang around on the wet ground in the afternoon.

Of course, there were quite a number of Papilio species puddling on the wet ground . This is  Papilio thaiwanus (台灣鳳蝶). 

琉璃翠鳳蝶(Papilio paris nakaharai ) is rather common here. They tended to congregate in a small group and kept fluttering their wings..

It was at its resting mode after it had enough nutrient solution.

Let me feature a pretty damselfly to conclude this posting.

We checked into Hotel Kim (金谷丰饭店) at 285, Nanchang St. in the town of Puli - a very affordable hotel for visitors like us.

To be continued here.