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Vol
7 No 2 Aug 2000 The Truth about Grass Butterfly-Plant Relationships List of butterflies (1999-2000) Beauty to Behold how animals see More about the eyes of animals Nesting Birds at Sungei Buloh Nesting Little Heron A walk with a Volunteer Guide: Keith Hillier Nature Photographer with a Mission: Julian Wong Earth Day Programmes Nature in the City |
Located at the main boardwalk leading to the Visitor Centre, the Butterfly Trail's colourful flowers have attracted several species of the larger butterflies at Sungei Buloh to feed at the trail. These butterflies, particularly the Blue Glassy Tiger, Dark Glassy Tiger, Common Mormon and Common Palmfly, are frequently seen in the vicinity of the trail at most times of the day. Sungei Buloh, usually associated with bird-watching and mangrove flora and fauna, is also home to about 40 species of butterflies. Whilst this is not a large number of species, it is quite important to note that the diversity of the butterfly species has a direct relationship to the number of species of plants found at the Park. The caterpillars of most species of butterflies feed on plants (with the exception of certain Lycaenidae species that are "carnivorous" and feed on coccids and mealy bugs). The vegetation of Sungei Buloh cannot be compared with, for example, Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, or the Central Catchment Area where the majority of the 250-odd species of butterflies in Singapore can be found. It is therefore important to understand the ecology of the butterflies, in particular, their dependence on the plant species at Sungei Buloh. Whilst most adult butterflies feed on flowering plants and damp patches on forest floors, their caterpillar stages are heavily dependant on the particular host plant of the species. For example, the often-encountered Blue Glassy Tiger (Ideopsis vulgaris macrina) feed on a type of creeper-weed found commonly at Sungei Buloh. It is believed that the Blue Glassy Tiger's lookalike, the Dark Glassy Tiger (Parantica agleoides agleoides) also shares the same host plant.
There are several species of Lycaenidae (these are small fast-flying butterflies) found at Sungei Buloh which occur in symbiotic relationship with the Kerengga ants. These are the Common Tit (Hypolycaena erylus teatus) and the Centaur Oak Blue (Arhopala pseudocentaurus nakula). Both species are known to feed on the leaves of Eugenia species. The caterpillars of these two species exude a kind of sweet secretion on which the ants feed, in return for protection from predators. With the fierce "fire ants" protecting them, the caterpillars of these butterflies have a much higher chance of survival in the wild. It would take a very determined and thick-skinned predator to ignore the painful bites of the ants to get at the caterpillar. So the next time you get bitten by these "fire ants" at Sungei Buloh and secretly hope that these ants be exterminated, spare a thought for the survival of at least two of the butterfly species sharing the Park with us.
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