Observation of the Week, 2/9/17

This Pompelon marginata moth, seen in Singapore by @sohkamyung, is our Observation of the Week!

“I had always been interested in nature, having been brought up on nature documentaries by Sir David Attenborough, but I only got more hands-on with nature recently,” says Kam Yung Soh. “A few years ago, we (including my wife and 10 year old son) decided to sign up for a butterfly count organised by the Singapore National Parks Board. It was a fantastic experience and since then, the family has been going out on weekends to the various parks and nature reserves in Singapore to discover nature, especially insects and butterflies. My wife and son are the ones who usually spot the creatures, which I then proceed to shoot.”

“I'm actually an Electrical Engineer by training. Neither me nor my family have any formal training in biology or natural history,” explains Kam Yung. “But my son is now pretty good at identifying butterflies, especially after we got the book A Field Guide to the Butterflies of Singapore by noted local butterfly expert SK Khew.”

The Pompelon marginata moth that he photographed above was found during a family outing at Mount Faber Park in Singapore. “As we were walking along a shaded path, we saw an iridescent blue insect fluttering in the air,” recalls Kam Yung. “We initially thought it was a butterfly and wondered what kind of butterfly it might be. It was only after it had settled on a leaf, fortunately just next to the walking path, that we realised that it was a moth; and a beautiful one too.” The moth was identified by local expert Foo Jit Leang as Pompelon marginata.

Ranging throughout much of Southeast Asia, the Pompelon marginata moth is a day-flying species that hosts on Wild Cinnamon (Cinnamomum sp.), around which it is often found. Look carefully at the back of its head and you can see a hint of the brilliant red that covers much of its thorax and abdomen, which is broken up by black dots. This species is considered to be a Euploea butterfly mimic.

A passionate citizen scientist, Mr. Soh posts his photos to Facebook, Twitter and Google+ as well as iNaturalist, and he hopes they “will help to encourage friends to be more adventurous and see nature in the wild, and not just in the local zoo.”

“Using iNaturalist has changed the way I see nature by making me be more observant, especially for the smaller creatures like insects. It is probably a common mis-belief that Singapore is a completely urban place,” says Kam Yung. “The IDs of my sightings by fellow iNaturalist users have also helped educate me on the fascinating natural behaviour of the various creatures I observed, instead of just having a photographic record of them.”

- by Tony Iwane


- Here’s a nice PDF on P. marginata from Nature in Singapore. There are some cool photos and a Tachinid maggot that emerged out of on caterpillar.

- Check out more moths and butterflies of Singapore in their respective projects.

Posted on 09 February, 2017 19:37 by tiwane tiwane

Comments

Thank you for the wonderful write-up!

Posted by sohkamyung about 7 years ago

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