The Unnamed Caterpillar Got Identified Today

No Sense Rushing Things

The first and only time, I ever ran across a white caterpillar, like this was April of 2015.

Doc Graff and I were on a mission, to find and photograph the endangered Ryukyu Robin.

April is the best month to find them, close to the ground, feeding their youngsters.

We, didn't run up the trail because, we're a bit too mature, to act like teenagers.

We huff and puff and meander up the mountain and, enjoy the fresh air.

Taking your time, gives a better view of nature. We're very observant.

Doc, had gone ahead, to get closer to the waterfall when, I spotted this.

Climbing the trail, there's spots where, cellular service no longer exists.

It's like being in the wilderness which, I kind of enjoy. I was catching my breath.

Standing on this wooden platform, smoking a cigarette is what, I was really doing.

Whoa.  It's like some little bottle brush, started coming towards me.

Forget smoking. Put the butts in yer pocket and, get down to shooting !

 

It's a good idea, to get photos from as many angles as possible.

You'd never know, this guy has red feet if, you didn't get down real close to him.

All along, I'm wondering, what kind of butterfly this creature would turn out to be.

In my pending photo files, there are hundreds of items, waiting for identification.

Yesterday, I sent these photos, to a couple of sites for help.

The Moth and Butterfly Identification Forum, on Facebook, came through today.

Chrysaeglia magnifica, was suggested by a gal named Lisa.

After checking several websites (with images) I think, I've narrowed it down.

This one, will be named Chrysaeglia magnifica taiwana, for the time being.

In no particular order except, the way the research got done, here's links:

Japan Moth Org

Larva at Japan Moth Org

Wikiwand

Gagabiodiversity

Scientific Name: Chrysaeglia magnifica taiwana

English Name: It doesn't have one, yet

Japanese Name:  (Rurimon hosoka) ルリモンホソバ 

Mission Completed

A hike all the way to to top of the trail, wouldn't have been complete, without photos.

We went, hunting for the Ryukyu Robin but, didn't see any along the way.

The falls and some white caterpillar, would be the only memories from that trip.

Coming back down the trail, I spotted someone, down by the river.

A nature guide and a woman, with a camera and a humongous lens, were in there.

She was shooting the birds, we had come all this way to capture.

See: Hiji Waterfall a Most Refreshing Climb for more.

A Blue Triangle Butterfly (GIF) for Wordless Wednesday

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Canon G12 on a Dog Walk Nabs a Butterfly

Blue Triangle Butterfly

Butterfly Motion GIF -- Marbeled Fritillary

Found in Europe, China and Japan

 

 

Today, I found a good site for information about this Brentis daphene butterfly.

It can be read in English, Italian, French or Spanish. No Japanese, I'm sorry.

Dr. Giuseppe Mazza is a journalist and scientific photographer and, a good one, too.

He has some friends, who did the translations and text, about this butterfly, for him.

Here's where you should go, to learn more about the Marbeled Fritillary. 

Those Europeans write much more romantically than, I ever will be able to do.

So, I'll just tell you a bit about, how I shot this critter  and created this animation.

Six images taken with the Pentax K1 and 420MM of lens were combined.

Exposure:  5/5.6  1/1000   ISO 800

The photos were uploaded to my Google Photos and I pushed a button, to CREATE.

A little window dropped down and, I selected ANIMATION.

End of story.

Hungry Caterpillars Eat Plenty of Food

Monster Was Eating Veges

 

 

It was one of those days, I didn't feel like walking too far with a 300MM lens.

So, I just went out back and looked around for something interesting to shoot.

Along came this brightly colored caterpillar and, it put on quite a show.

The little furry critter was eating vegetables in Mr's Yamashiro's garden plot.

It's a good thing, she wasn't around, to see all the damage this thing was creating.

The thought occurred to me, I could perform a random act of kindness.

Grab the culprit and, throw him over the fence, into a neighboor's vegetable patch.

Some people like to squish the hairy things, with their feet.  Not me.

And, I wasn't in a caterpillar chucking mood that day, either.

It did get me wondering, "How much food can one of them eat?"

In, "Ten Fascinating Facts About Caterpillars" I learned this:

Some of them eat 27,000 times the weight of their body, during their lifetime.

Don't diet. Eat more. Maybe, you'll turn into something as pretty as a butterfly !

 After, I shot about 5 gigabytes worth of photos, I let the rascal get away.

End of story

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Ishigakechou (イシガケチョウ) Common Map Butterfly GIF

Found Throughout Okinawa and Asia

 

 

They are called Cyrestis thyodamas if, you prefer biological names.

Some folks have been asking me about GIF photos so, I dug this one out of last year's files.

Camera: Pentax K3

Lens: Pentax 300MM and 1.4 converter Focal Length 420MM

Exposure:  f/5.6   1/500   ISO 400

Location:  Kin Town, Okinawa, Japan

Date and Time:  OCT 28  2015  12:41PM

 Learn how easy it is to create these animations, at Google Photos Help.

Previous post about the Common Map Butterfly. 

Orange Butterfly with Eye Spots on Its Wings

Tatehamodoki (タテハモドキ) in Japanese

 

Scientific Name: Junonia almana

Common Name: Peacock Pansy

Photo taken with Pentax K3 at focal length of 420mm

Exposure: f/5.6   1/400   ISO 200 

 

More at -- Butterfly Images: Peacock Pansy

Another Butterfly at the Okukubi River

There are so many varieties of swallowtail butterfly that, this one won't get named tonight.

A long walk was taken down the length of the Okukubi River and, back.

Shortly before noon, this butterfly showed up along the western bank of the river.

The shot was made at f/5.6  1/1250   ISO 400.

Camera: Pentax K3

Lens:  Pentax 300mm with a 1.4 converter for focal length of 420mm.

Latin name will be pending further research.

 

Common Map Butterfly (イシガケチョウ) Ishigakechou in Okinawa

Latin Name: Cyrestis thyodamas

 

 

Common Name: Common Map Butterfly

 

 

It gets the name from resembling a map, with all the lines on the wings.

There are several similar looking one in the family of this species.

They are found throughout Asia and Southeast Asia.

Links for any butterfly enthusiasts may be viewed at:

Encyclopedia of Life

YouTube

Okinawa Kaeru Net

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Common Map Butterfly in Motion

Wildlife Photo: Common Map Butterfly (Cyrestis thyodamas)

Another View of the Great Mormon Butterfly

More about this butterfly

Butterfly -- The Nagasaki-ageha AKA Great Mormon

Jewel From the Sky Spotted in Izumi Okinawa

 

 

Today we were up north in Motobu checking on the mikan (tangerines) progress.

October happens to be the month mikan gari (tangerine picking) takes place.

Farmers, let you pick your own and, you can save some coins by doing that.

We weren't picking fruit, just checking and, found out, the places are open for business. 

So, Doc and I will let the wives know, the mikans are ripe and ready.

A few bags of the green tangerines were purchased from the nice gals who chatted with us.

It Was Camera Shooting Time

 

 We went around and shot some photos of the orchards and surrounding area.

And, any unusual flowers we came across got a few snaps of the camera shutters, too.

Along came this brilliantly colored specimen of a butterfly.

So, we went after it and, it didn't exactly want to pose. It's a fast mover.

Most of the time, I keep my ISO's on the camera as low as possible 100-400, no higher.

Capturing these images, ISO 800 was required, to get sufficient shutter speed.

 These might be common butterflies, to some folks but, I've never seen one colored like this.

After looking at thumbnails on a few Asian butterfly sites, I was about to give up.

Then, I looked at a Yanbaru Field Guide and found the critter.

ISBN978-4-408-32351-0 P.132

The book is Japanese but, it gave me enough information to take my search to a conclusion.

The Latin name for this butterfly is Papilio memnon.

REFERENCES: 

Butterfly Corner

Butterflies of India

Butterflies of Singapore

Encyclopedia of Life

SAMUIBUTTERFLIES

Butterfly Images: Peacock Pansy

Tatehamodoki (タテハモドキ) in Japan

Walk along the banks of the river and these orange butterflies seem to be everywhere.

 

 

 They are a dull brown color when the wings are closed.

With opened wings, during wet season, they appear to have eye spots staring at you.

The Latin name for this species is Junonia almana.

They may be found throughout Southeast Asia, India and Japan.

Camera: Pentax K3

Lens: Pentax 18-250 with 1.4 converter for Focal Length of 280mm

Exposure:  f/9.5  1/80   ISO 200

Location: Okukubi River, Kin Town, Okinawa, Japan

Date and Time:  SEP 9 2015  3:18PM

RESOURCES:

iNaturalist

Wildlife of Okinawa

Red Hibiscus and Red Helen Butterfly GIF Animation

Spotted in Oku Village

 

 

Traveling the northern tip of the island, the weather took a few drastic turns.

The sky blackened and, dumped a few gallons of water.

For mid August, no one can complain.  It felt great being cooled naturally.

 The butterfly, Red Helen has a Latin name of Papilio helenus.

The flower, I knew was some sort of Hibiscus and, searched for a botanical name.

Chinese Hibiscus (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis) sounds like a good name, to me.

So far, I've been rained on twice today but, I'm still smiling.

It might not be a good idea to argue with me, over the name of this flower.

If anyone wants to discuss it, email me and, we'll talk Monday.

Have a nice weekend; I'm outta here !

Butterfly: Papilio helenus -- The Oriental Red Helen

A Genuine Eye-catcher

 

 

Ten hours were spent with the camera on the roads today.

Close to 1,000 images of nature in Springtime were captured and, this was a favorite.

The Red Helen butterfly, I have seen before but, none like this one.

It had a lot more white patterns on it than any, I've photographed before.

The Indian Foundation for Butterflies convinced me this is a Red Helen.

Another helpful site for identification: Butterflies of Indochina.

 

Blue Triangle Butterfly or Bluebottle Swallowtail (GIF)

Common Names

 

 

Blue Triangle Butterfly or, Common Bluebottle Swallowtail

Scientific Nomenclature

 

 

Graphium sarpedon

These butterflies can be found almost anywhere in the rainforests of Asia.

They may also, be seen in Australia and, we have video-graphic proof.

A Problem and Solution

 

 

If the research hadn't been done, I would never have guessed this.

Molecular Expressions at Florida State University,  showed me the problem:

 "Man cannot always successfully reproduce what occurs in nature. The blue triangle butterfly reared in captivity is distinctly different from those existing in the wild. Unfortunately for the survival of the species, the smaller, less intensely colored captive-bred individuals are less desirable to collectors."

The only reason, I had to quote them is, I don't speak so eloquently.

For example, my solution we be something like this:

Take folks, breeding captive butterflies along with those, collecting the wild ones and, put them in jail.

Problem solved !

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Common Map Butterfly in Motion

Cyrestis thyodamas

 

 

Testing the Pentax DA300mmF4 lens a photo series of this butterfly was taken today.

The butterfly is called a Common Map Butterfly.

They have some raggedy looking wings and, don't usually stay still for very long.

 

The weather was so nice, in Okinawa today, I had to get out and do some shooting.

So, I grabbed the Pentax K3 and a tripod and walked around Kin Dam.

These photos were taken a f/11  1/400   ISO 100.

It was so much fun, chasing critters, I didn't get back until sunset.

Eagles, hawks, ducks and herons, were just part of the photographic captures, today.

It may take a week to get all the photos processed.

And, another week, to identify some of the new wildlife, I discovered.

Maybe, I should get some interns to do all this office stuff.

Because, if the sun keeps shining, like it did today, I'm outta here !

 

Butterfly Images: Striped Blue Crow (ツマムラサキマダラ)

Wildlife Okinawa Confirmed

 

 

This one had me stumped for awhile but, today the resources came through.

The Yanbaru Field Guide, borrowed from Kin Town Library, gave the name in Japanese.

Put, ツマムラサキマダラ in Google Japan and, you find everything.

 These butterflies are found in India.  And, they are also in Singapore.

A site called SAMUIBUTTERFLIES, shows plenty more, detailed photos.

Click the link, on that site and, you can learn all about these critters.

The field guide I use is: ISBN978-4-408-32351-0

This butterfly was located on page 138.

Another great resource is Wildlife Okinawa

Butterfly in Motion: Indian Fritillary (GIF)

Also known as a Chinese Tropical Fritillary, there are plenty in Japan.

The scientific name for this butterfly is, Argynnis hyperbius.

See more at Butterflies of India

A Plains Cupid Butterfly Photo (GIF)

This ragged winged character isn't really as large at it appears in the image.

The butterfly is just a tad bigger than a thumbnail. 

The insect was staying fairly still. But, the wind was raising a ruckus with it.

So, I spot-focused to try and catch the colors and action.

Using the Sigma 50-500 lens at 420mm and Pentax K3, I took a series of shots.

Then, uploaded them into that Auto Awesomenator thing.

There aren't any butterflies like this in my Yanbaru Field Guide so, I searched online.

Plains Cupid, Cycad Blue and, Chilades pandava are the names I came up with.

Butterflies of India lists them as Oriental Plains Cupid.

Learn About Butterflies says they may be found in Thailand, Malaysia and Borneo.

Butterflies of Sri Lanka has a few photos of them, too. 

Over on Flickr there's an awesome macro shot taken in Kuala Lumpur.

The good old boys at Wiki, confirmed these critters are in India and Singapore. 

Do you suppose, we should tell them Okinawa, Japan, has them, too ?

A Pair of Common Yellow Grass Butterflies (Photos)

They Really Do Fly United

 

 

We spotted them flying in the northern area of Okinawa.

There's supposedly, a place up there, where you can see whales jumping in the ocean.

Shooting a camera from land, is lots easier, than from a whale-watching boat.

But, it was so cloudy, over the ocean, you couldn't have seen whales, anyway.

When these characters, stopped in a sunny spot, I shot them for you.

My good friend, Doc, said they were mating.

And, gave me the idea for my subtitle.

Backing off a bit to give them some privacy, a few dozen photos were made.

It beats watching airline commercials.  Doesn't it ?

For more information about these Eurema hecabe butterflies, checkout:

Butterflies of Singapore

Ten Random Facts 

or

Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia

Related Post -- Butterfly Photo: Common Grass Yellow

Butterfly Photos: Possibly a Chinese Peacock (Papilio bianor)

The colors of this Swallowtail caught my attention.

It was spotted in the northern hills of Okinawa and it didn't like posing for the camera.

When it got attracted to that weed, I fired away in burst mode.

And, sent the photos over to that Auto Awesome dude on Google+.

A few resources, I used to help identify the critter:

Butterfly Corner

Butterflies of Japan

Gave me the Latin (Papilio bianor) and Japanese name:  Karasu-ageha (カラスアゲハ).

Wikimedia Commons

Got me thinking, this may  very well be a Chinese Peacock Butterfly.

Any butterfly experts out there want to confirm ?