Monkey Puzzle

Monkey Puzzle I am referring to, is neither the political game which our politicians play, nor any other game I am trying to promote. That afternoon I was teaching my 10 year old daughter Neethi few basics of photography when she spotted a small butterfly with several tail filaments sitting on a crape jasmine bush. That butterfly is called Monkey Puzzle (Rathinda amor). My daughter wanted to try her hand on macro photography. I removed the flash and diffuser and just gave her my Canon EOS 1D Mark IV fitted with Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM lens to try. Weight of this rig is too much to her tiny hands and she struggled to hold the weight. Nevertheless she managed to capture the butterfly quite successfully. Here is the photo she captured.

Monkey Puzzle

After she tried her hand, I wanted to take the similar shot. The butterfly was very cooperative. Here is my humble effort. As both of us were not using flash we had to push the ISO to 3200 to get aperture f/13 and speed of 1/200th second. Unfortunately the plant on which this butterfly was sitting was so awkward, that it allowed me only two good positions to take photos.

Monkey Puzzle

Later I connected my Canon Speedlite 580EX II with ExpoImaging Ray Flash Adapter. This gave me good light with which I could reduce the ISO to 100. The extra light from the flash allows you to extract a greater clarity from the picture by using lower ISO. The Monkey Puzzle, Rathinda amor is a small lycaenid or blue butterfly found in Western Ghats, South Indian plains, Orissa and Ganjam districts to Calcutta. Assam. Sri Lanka.

Monkey Puzzle

Its sexes alike. Wingspan – 26 to 28 mm. Upper side of this butterfly is dark brown. It has a white-spot end cell. It has narrow white spots on 2 and 3 which form a short band on the fore wing. On the UPH it has two black tornal spots and narrow dark reddish spot above them. The underside is white to dark yellowish brown. Fore wing has irregular dark basal markings with a curved white discal line. The apical two-fifths are a rich dark brown color. The hind wing has a silvery margin with many irregular black lines and spots within. It has three tails, being 2 mm, 6 mm and 2.5 mm in length.

Monkey Puzzle

This butterfly is found in jungle areas of moderate to heavy rainfall – both, in heavy forest and scrub. The butterfly occurs below 900 meters or so. It keeps to undergrowth and can be seen along forest paths and in clearings. The butterfly has a weak flight, it stays low and does not fly for long without alighting. Its method of alighting is interesting – as soon as it lands, it turns around and waggles its tail filaments, it also sidesteps for a while – all this is apparently to confuse a predator as to which side is the head. This is a likely reason that the first naturalists may have named the species the Monkey Puzzle. The butterfly has a number of food plants from families Rubiaceae, Dipterocarpeae, Euphorbiaceae, Loranthaceae, Sapindaceae and Myrtaceae. In my garden I found it was feeding on Ixora.

Final instar of Oleander Hawk Moth Caterpillar

Evening after the Photography workshop on 6th Dec 2009 I was tired from all the presentation and talk which happened at the workshop. Having taken bulk of the topics and over 8 sessions my throat was aching. We had 32 very nice enthusiastic youngsters who attended the workshop.The interaction was great and we all learned a lot about photography from each other. When I returned to my in-laws place at Bondel, Mangalore, I was eagerly greeted by my daughter who showed this plump green caterpillar which she sighted on the flowering bush in their garden. She had seen the similar caterpillar earlier at her school backyard and wanted to know the identification. There were 3 caterpillars on that Crape jasmine (Tabernaemontana divaricata) plant. They were caterpillars of the of the oleander hawk-moth.

Oleander Hawk Moth Caterpillar

The Oleander hawk-moth, Daphnis nerii (Linnaeus, 1758), one of the most widely distributed species of sphingid in the world, is known to occur in Africa, southern Europe, Arabia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, Yunnan (south China), Hong Kong, Taiwan, the Philippines, Sumatra, Peninsular Malaysia, and North Borneo, and has been introduced to southern Japan, Hawaii, and Guam. Its vernacular name refers to the oleander, Nerium oleander (family Apocynaceae), on which its larvae feed, among other members in its family of poisonous, laticiferous plants. Incidentally, the Oleander was also first described by renowned Swedish naturalist, Carolus Linnaeus in 1753. I had the great opportunity of photographing this moth earlier which I documented on this website here and here.

Defensive posture

Entire body of this caterpillar was a pleasant apple green, with a straight, dorso-lateral row of small, aqua-marine dots from its second to seventh abdominal segments, with a chalky white, longitudinal band immediately above this. There was also a scattering of distinct, white dots from its first to fifth abdominal segments. Its spiracles were jet black, outlined with white. On its third thoracic segment, there was a prominent pair of ocelli (A marking that resembles an eye), consisting of an outer, Dark Blue ring with a whitish blue center, clearly advertised when its defensive posture (head tucked under) was adopted.

Defensive pose of Oleander Hawk Moth Caterpillar

Its tail horn was relatively short and had a rounded tip. There was a sparse distribution of low, short spines over the entire tail horn, which was largely citrus-yellow. It was voraciously feeding on Crape jasmine leaves and excreting large greenish black pellets. Since it was dark we decided to visit and photograph it next day.

Next day morning when we went to visit the caterpillar again we just couldn’t find any apple green caterpillar. Previously apple-green body had transformed to a dirty orange on the flanks and an olive-brown on the dorsum. A symmetrical pair of round, black patches had also appeared on the top of its first thoracic segment, just posterior to its head.

Pre Pupal stage of Oleander Hawk Moth Caterpillar

The thick rings of its false eye spots had darkened to a black outline. The yellow of its posterior tail horn had now darker orange. This was pre-pupal metamorphosis of the caterpillar. What we saw yesterday was the final instar version of this caterpillar.As we were observing the caterpillar was descending to the ground. Then it dropped to the ground and started burrowing deep into the soil to pupate. I did not disturb its path and let it continue. In another 10days I was sure it is going to emerge out of its pupa and brilliantly colored oleander hawk moth which I had previously documented on my website.

Pre-Pupal Stage of Oleander Hawk-Moth Caterpillar

Descriptions and illustrations of the larva and pupa of the oleander hawk-moth were provided previously by Bell & Scott (1937), with more recent works by Pittaway (1993) and Pittaway & Kitching (2009). Throughout its broad geographical distribution, the combined list of documented larval host plants for the oleander hawk-moth comprises no fewer than 32 genera in 12 families, clear indications of a polyphagous diet. However, there appears to be a strong preference for plants in the family Apocynaceae, with at least 17 genera (more than half) recorded. A most probable advantage of consuming potentially poisonous plants in this family would be the chemical defense that the larvae would be able to derive from them. For example, the leaves and other parts of the oleander contain a potent concoction of cardiac glycosides (cardenolides), such as oleandrin, which can cause nausea, vomiting, weakness, irregular pulse and decreased heart rate. The oleander has even been responsible for occasional fatalities in humans. Thus the plants in the Apocynaceae would confer the larvae considerable deterrence against a variety of predators.

Reference

• Beck, J. & I. J. Kitching, 2008. The Sphingidae of Southeast-Asia (incl. New Guinea, Bismarck & Solomon Islands).Version 1.5. http://www.sphin-sea.unibas.ch/.
• Bell, T. R. D. & F. B. Scott, 1937. The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Moths. Volume V. Sphingidae. London.
• Inoue, H., R. D. Kennett & I. J. Kitching, 1997. Moths of Thailand, Volume Two Sphingidae. Chok Chai Press, Bangkok.
• Jarvis, C., 2009. The Linnaean Plant Name Typification Project. The Natural History Museum, London. http://www.nhm.ac.uk/research-curation/research/projects/linnaean-typification/.
• Pittaway, A. R., 1993. The Hawkmoths of the Western Palaearctic. Harley Books, in association with the Natural History Museum (London), Essex.
• Pittaway, A. R. & I. J. Kitching, 2009. Sphingidae of the Eastern Palaearctic. http://tpittaway.tripod.com/china/china.htm
• Robinson, G. S., P. R. Ackery, I. J. Kitchi HOSTSA Database of the The Natural History Museum, London. http://www.nhm.ac.uk/research-curation/research/projects/hostplants/
• Stewart, A., 2009. Wicked plants. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
• van Wyk, B.-E. & M. Wink, 2004. Medicinal Plants of the WorldAn Illustrated Scientific Guide to Important Medicinal Plants and Their Uses. Times Editions-Marshall Cavendish, Singapore.
• Wasfi, I. A., O. Zorob, N. A. Al Katheeri & A. M. Al Awadhi, 2008. A fatal case of oleandrin poisoning. Forensic Science International.
• Wee, Y. C., 2005. Plants that Heal, Thrill and Kill. SNP International, Singapore.