Monsoon had just begun. It was late evening. Through the incessant drizzle I noticed a small yellow brown butterfly sheltering on the bi-lobed leaves of Malabar Bauhinia(Bauhinia malabarica). On closer inspection it turned out to be a male Chocolate Albatross butterfly (Appias lyncida).

I wanted to take a closeup photo but it was impossible with my Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM as butterfly was around 12 feet from the ground and all I could get using that lens would have been a tiny image. So I took my Canon EF 300mm f/2.8 L IS USM fitted it with Canon EF 2X II Extender on my Canon EOS 7D thus increasing the focal length to 960mm (in 35mm terms). Now with this magnification I could reach up to the butterfly without disturbing it.

With rain clouds all over the evening sky, Light was fading fast. I used my new Manfrotto 0055CXPRO3 Carbon Fiber tripod to setup the rig. Covered it with Storm jacket to prevent rain damaging the camera and lens. Used my Canon Speedlite 580EX II flash as fill light to get this beautiful shot. Even at full power 580EX was good enough to get f/9.5 at that distance. The depth of field at that distance was razor thin. you can see the eyes are sharp but wingtips are not.

Chocolate Albatross , Appias lyncida is a butterfly of the Family Pieridae. It is found in India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Indochina, Taiwan, Hainan and possibly South China.

In India, the butterfly ranges across South India, peninsular India, Nicobar islands, Sikkim to Assam, and onto Myanmar. In South India, the Chocolate Albatross is to be found along the foot of the Western Ghats. It is found throughout the year in the Nilgiris where it is locally common. In the northern parts of peninsular India it extends into Orissa and North up to Lucknow.

The Chocolate Albatross has a wingspan of 55 to 70mm. The male is white above with chocolate-brown or black margins, and, bright lemon-yellow below with chocolate-colored markings. The female is white and densely clouded with dark-brown.

The butterfly shows seasonal dimorphism and is very variable wet and dry season forms exist.

The Chocolate Albatross is a forest butterfly and prefers rainy highlands, up to a level of 3000 ft. Flying strongly and swiftly close to the ground, the Albatross is frequently found in jungle clearings and along stream banks. The males are often found circling around trees and bushes. The Chocolate Albatross often mudpuddles, sometimes in large numbers. The butterfly occasionally visits flowers and has been recorded to visit Verbena flowers in Kodagu.

The larvae have been recorded on Crataeva religiosa, Capparis roxburghii and Capparis heyneana.

Death in the domain of the insects can be swift and cruel but retains a magnificence and beauty that is somehow at odds with the brutality of what is happening.
Today rain had subsided a little. I wanted to photograph Psyche (Leptosia nina) butterfly which was flying around those tiny pinkish flowers which I couldn’t find any ID. As I shot 2 photos of the beautiful butterfly a female Small Zebra Jumper spider (Plexippus petersi) jumped on it and killed it. The whole process was so swift that I was too stunned to capture the instance of death.

Just to show you the beauty before death here is the Psyche seconds before death

The Common Mime (Chilasa clytia) is a Swallowtail butterfly found in South and South-east Asia. The butterfly belongs to the Chilasa group or the Black-bodied Swallowtails. It serves an excellent example of a Batesian mimic among the Indian butterflies. Wingspan of 90-105 mm. This is butterfly has dimorphism for both sexes – there are two different colour forms for each sex. The lighter form dissimilis mimics the unpalatable Blue Tiger (Tirumala limniace) while the darker form clytia mimics the unpalatable “Crows”. This is clytia form which looks like Common Indian Crow (Euploea core).

The upper sides and under sides of clytia are a rich dark brown – the colour towards the margins of the wings is much paler. There is a series of creamy to white markings towards the outer margins, many of which are chevron shaped. The spots on the margins between the veins are creamy and small. Towards the outer margins of the hind wings, there are two rows of cream coloured chevrons, the outer being much smaller than the inner. The margins of the hind wings have orange yellow spots between the veins; the ones on the lower side are much larger. This specimen had the wings damaged so the the markings are not very clear.

The ground colour of the wings of dissimilis is blue-gray, with heavy black markings along the veins, giving it a somewhat reticulate appearance. The chevron shaped markings towards the outer margins are similar to those of form clytia.

This butterfly is found in India from Kangra to Sikkim, from Assam to Burma, Nepal, Bangladesh, Peninsular India and the Andaman Islands. It is also found in Sri Lanka, Thailand, Southern China (including Hainan), Hong Kong, Vietnam, Laos, Kampuchea, peninsular Malaysia, Philippines and Indonesia (Flores, Alor, Timor and Moa). Several regional variants and forms are recognized.

It usually flies within a few feet of the ground when searching for nectar or larval host plants. However, it is not uncommon to see it nectaring on blooms high up in the canopy. It prefers wooded areas with open spaces. It is not uncommon in home gardens.

It resembles its unpalatable Danaid models exceptionally well, not only in its markings and general coloration, but also in its behavior. For instance, when flying, it glides for a considerable distance after taking a few leisurely wing beats. After settling on a flower, it keeps its wings quite still like the models and does not continuously vibrate its wings like a typical swallowtail. Like its models, it sleeps with its wings folded over its body, often hanging onto a twig.

It is interesting to note that form clytia in Sri Lanka differs from its subspecies in India in almost the same way that the Indian Common Crow in Sri Lanka differs from its subspecies in India, illustrating the evolutionary selection pressure exerted on the mimics to look more and more like the model in their own environment.

The larvae feed on species of Litsea, Cinnamomum and Nauclea. The pupa of this butterfly is remarkably well camouflaged and resembles a broken twig so well that if a bird were to memorize its image, it will probably pick many dead twigs before it gets it right!