Sahyadri Commander (Moduza procris) Caterpillar

I saw this strange & bizarre looking caterpillar on the leaves of Mussaenda frondosa in my garden. The caterpillar was dirty brown with a chestnut tinge and dark reddish brown splotches all over. The body also bore numerous processes which helped it to break up its outline. Just like Hans Christian Andersen’s classic The Ugly Duckling tale, I found out that this ugly caterpillar will transform into a beautiful Sahyadri Commander (Moduza procris undifragus) Butterfly.

The Commander (Moduza procris), is a medium-sized, strikingly colored brush-footed butterfly found in Asia. It is notable for the mode of concealment employed by its caterpillar and the cryptic camouflage of its pupa. In India we have 3 subspecies of this butterfly.

(1) Moduza procris procris Cramer, 1777 – Oriental Commander
(2) Moduza procris undifragus Fruhstorfer, 1906 – Sahyadri Commander
(3) Moduza procris anarta Moore, 1877 – Andaman Commander

Sahyadri Commander (Moduza procris) Caterpillar

The Commander has a wingspan of about 6 to 7.5 cm. The upper side of its wings are a bright reddish brown. Towards the center of the wing are broad white spots. In flight, one can see a bright red brown butterfly with a white band forming a V shape. There are also a few white spots scattered on the wings. Its hind wings have crenulated margins. The undersides of the wings are a whitish gray toward the base and have a row of dull reddish brown and a row of black spots along the margins.

Sri Lanka, Peninsular India, the Himalayas east of the Dun valley, through Kumaon, Nepal, Sikkim to Assam, Arunachal and onto Myanmar. Locally abundant, it is common from Sri Lanka to Maharashtra. It is rare in Gujarat and far more common in the Himalayas. The Commander is generally found in forested regions having moderate to heavy rainfall. It usually keeps to low elevations, that is, up to 3000 feet into the hills.

Sahyadri Commander (Moduza procris) Caterpillar

It is fond of open glades, roadsides and clearings in forests. It is abundant along water courses in dry and moist deciduous forests. It is also found close to villages or wherever it’s larval host-plant Mussaenda frondosa is to be found. It is most common in the post-monsoon months and winter.

The Commander can often be spotted basking with its wings pressed flat on exposed stones in stream beds. Individuals settle down on an exposed perch high up in the trees during the heat of the day. At this time it can be seen defending its territory and driving intruding butterflies away.

Sahyadri Commander (Moduza procris) Caterpillar

This butterfly has a swift flight with rapid wing beats and alternate spurts of smooth gliding. A powerful flier, it nevertheless flies for short distances at a time. Being wary, it maintains its distance and is best caught when engrossed in mud-puddling or feeding from flowers. It regularly visits flowers from low-lying herbs to high up in the trees. Though this is a mud-puddling species, adults do not visit carrion or old fruit to drink liquids.

The female Commander lays a single egg on the underside of the tip of a leaf of the food plant. The egg is hairy and greenish and looks like a green strawberry. The egg hatches in 3 to 4 days.

The caterpillar is dirty brown with a chestnut tinge and dark brown splotches all over. The body also bears numerous processes which help to break up its outline. The behavior of this caterpillar is very interesting in that it is one of the species of butterfly that makes long chains of frass. It eats up part of the leaf it is on and uses bits of leaves which are strung up with silk along with droppings. The caterpillar rests on the exposed mid rib of a leaf after removing the leafy portions on the sides. This behavior may be to dissuade ants from crossing over the chain of frass behind which the caterpillar rests.

Sahyadri Commander (Moduza procris) Caterpillar

Before pupating, the caterpillar wanders around, often far away from the plant it fed on. It pupates among dried leaves and twigs. The pupa is brownish in color and rough in texture. It is angular with prominent wing expansions and bears flat processes on the head which curl together making a hole between them. It also has numerous lines and markings that make it look like a rolled up dried leaf.

You can check out the life cycle of the wonderful butterfly at Saji, K. and H. Ogale. 2011. Moduza procris Cramer, 1777 – Commander. In K. Kunte, S. Kalesh & U. Kodandaramaiah (eds.). Butterflies of India, v. 1.04. Indian Foundation for Butterflies.

Paddyfield Pipit

I had earlier written about Paddyfield Pipit (Anthus rufulus). I had another opportunity to meet this bird. It was well camouflaged in the tall grass. I was shooting at a playground. Despite people around playing cricket near it, the bird was busy foraging along with its companion.

Paddyfield Pipit

I was using Canon EOS 1D Mark IV fitted with Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS USM & Canon EF 1.4x III Extender. Last time when I photographed it I had used Canon EOS 7D fitted with Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS USM & Canon EF 1.4x II Extender. So this is also a good indicator of the performance these two bodies; 1D Mark IV being Professional camera body and 7D marketed as semi professional. The results are on expected lines. Canon 1D Mark IV far surpasses the 7D. Even though bulky and heavy the result 1D Mark IV gives out is astonishing. Its focusing ability is phenomenal. Mastering that ability takes quite a lot of learning curve. Even at higher ISO the noise profile is excellent as compared to 7D.

Paddyfield Pipit

This time grass was greener as compared to earlier version. These birds are usually found in pairs. Paddyfield Pipit is smaller and dumpier, has shorter looking tail and has a weaker fluttering flight. The usually uttered characteristic tsip-tsip-tsip call. It is a wide spread species found in open habitats, especially short grassland and cultivation with open bare ground. It runs rapidly on the ground, and when flushed, does not fly far. It feeds principally on small insects but consumes larger beetles, tiny snails, worms etc. while walking on the ground, and may pursue insects like mosquitoes or termites in the air.

Paddyfield Pipit Camouflaged

A month before this shoot I had spotted these birds nesting in the same grass where I was photographing today. As a ethical policy I don’t photograph nests and will not publish one. Nest was at the edge of a bush. It was woven out of grass and leaves and was cup shaped. There were 3 eggs with greenish ground color and small brown specks. Now the nest is not to be seen and I could not see the young ones too. Since it was about a month since I last saw the nest, I am not sure either they fell prey for the predators or grew up and flew away. That playground is full of people playing around. They also haphazardly set fire to the grass around that playground to clear the grass on that playground.

Robber Fly using 300mm f2.8 + 36mm extension tube

I do a lot of close-up photography with my Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS USM + 1.4x or 2.0x extender. That’s not the most usual combination for close-up photography, but has several advantages:

1. Long working distance: Due to the long focal length (420mm or 600mm) I can work at a longer distance from your subject than with a macro lens like my Canon EF 100mm F2.8L USM Macro. This is very useful when working with shy insects or when working from a trail and I don’t want to leave the trail when photographing subjects that are a short distance away from the trail (I might want to do this in order not to destroy any flowers that are between me and the subject or because in some national parks and other protected areas it may be forbidden to leave the trail).
2. It’s easier to get a calm background: Due to the narrower angle of view of the long focal length, it’s easier to isolate the subject against a calm background. Distracting subjects in the background (like other flowers, stems of plants or human made subjects) can often ruin an otherwise very good shot. I have written earlier for my reason to choose this combo as compared to a pure macro lens. A longer focal length is helpful when you want a clean and calm background.

Robber Fly using 300mm f2.8 + 36mm extension tube

Here I wanted to compare Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS USM and Canon EF 2X II Extender combo against Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS USM and 36mm Kenko extension tube. Basically I wanted to know which combination was sharper of the two. I used my Canon EOS 5D mark II for this comparison. All photos were taken using my Benro C45T Carbon Fiber Monopod as support. I fixed the settings as follows to get consistent result. ISO was fixed at ISO 800 & aperture at f/9.5. Shutter speed was 1/250 to 1/350 depending on the light condition as both combos differed optically. As a model I asked a Robber Fly to pose for me on the grass blade . As the Robber Fly just had lunch it was basking on that blade despite lot of insects flying around it. That gave me plenty of time to do my experiment.

First two photos here were taken using Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS USM and 36mm Kenko extension tube. This combination gives a fantastically sharp macro. Extension tube does not have any optical element in it. They also lack any electronic circuit in them, so you don’t see their mention in the EXIF information of the photo. By moving the lens father away from the sensor in the camera, the lens is forced to focus much closer than normal. The greater the length of the extension tube, the closer the lens can focus. Thus you can get a magnified view. This allows you to focus the lens closer than the minimal focal distance (MFD) of the lens. Not only do extension tubes reduce minimum focus distance, but maximum focus distance is also reduced. While not welcomed, this is part of the optical change made by the ET. For example, the Canon EF 300mm f/2.8 L IS Lens focuses from 4.5 feet to 10 feet with the Extension Tube. This is closer than 8.2 feet (2.5m) normally my 300mm allows without extension tube. Two drawbacks I find when I attach extension tube are my Infinite focus is lost and my magnification for distant object remains at 300mm focal length.

Second set of two photos here were taken using Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS USM and Canon EF 2X II Extender. This combination gives a relatively sharp photo. With Canon EF 2X II Extender Canon EF 300mm f/2.8 L IS Lens becomes a 600mm f/5.6 IS lens. Extenders do not affect the MFD (Minimum Focus Distance) of the lens they are mounted behind, thus the MM (Maximum Magnification) of the lens is also multiplied by 2x. I can stay away from the subject and get almost magnified view nearly double in size. With extender are my Infinite focus is intact and my magnification for distant object doubled to 600mm focal length. If you see the background bokeh it is more creamier with this combo. The optics in the extender cause deterioration of the image sharpness as compared to my earlier combo.

So which combination is better? Even though Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS USM and 36mm Kenko extension tube combo is sharper I prefer Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS USM with Extender combo for the advantage it has with larger focal length, larger working distance, and smoother bokeh. I also can shoot birds and other distance objects including infinity with higher magnification.

Robber Fly using 300mm f2.8 + Canon EFII 2x Teleconverter

Insects in the Diptera family Asilidae are commonly called Robber flies. The family Asilidae contains about 7,100 described species worldwide. The Robber Flies are air hunters. They also known as an Assassin Fly and Bee Killer. All robber flies have 3 simple eyes (ocelli) in a characteristic depression between their two large compound eyes. The antennae are short, 3-segmented, sometimes with a bristle-like structure called an arista. Their eyes are set wide apart for good depth perception, with even a depression between the eyes to allow full sweeping vision. Also characteristic is the more or less hairy face (the “mystax“), which, it is theorized, protects the eyes during battles with large and dangerous prey. The high arching thorax containing the powerful muscles which activate the wings, allows it to fly up in an instant and snatch fast-flying prey out of the air. Robbers (unlike many similar appearing flies in other families) normally land with their wings folded together over the back of their extended abdomens, and this will help you pick them out. The long spiky muscular legs with which they capture and hold their prey (see especially the falcon-like talons at the ends of their legs).

The short, strong proboscis is used to stab and inject victims with saliva containing neurotoxic and proteolytic enzymes which paralyze and digest the insides; the fly then sucks the liquefied meal through the proboscis. Many species have long, tapering abdomens, sometimes with a sword-like ovipositor. Others are fat-bodied bumblebee mimics. Adult robber flies attack other flies, beetles, butterflies and moths, various bees, ants, dragon and damselflies, Ichneumon wasps, grasshoppers, and some spiders.

Robber Fly using 300mm f2.8 + Canon EFII 2x Teleconverter

Robbers are in the Order Diptera, the true flies, characterized by having two wings (instead of the four wings typical of other orders). Two wings are much more efficient than four wings, and flies are the champion flyers of the insect world. Their hind wings have been reduced to little balancing organs (the halteres), which you can see on this fly as yellow knobs down below the wing bases.

Female robber flies deposit creamy colour eggs on plants or in gaps within soil, bark, or wood. Egg-laying habits are different depend on species and habitat. Most species lay eggs in masses and are covered with protective coating. Robber fly larvae live in the soil or in rotting wood. Larvae are also predators, they feed on eggs, larvae and other soft-bodied insects. They pupate in the soil and move to soil surface emerge as adults.