Wildlife Photography: Autumn Leaf (Doleschalia bisaltide)

The Autumn Leaf is a recent discovery here in Singapore.  The original subspecies, Doleschallia bisaltide pratipa, was recorded by the early authors, but was not seen in Singapore since the beginning of the 20th century and believed to have gone extinct.  The recent discovery of the Autumn Leaf appears to be the subspecies australis which hails from Indonesia and Australia.  The characteristic subapical white spots are usually not present (at least not all the 5 spots) in the subspecies pratipa and siamensis, both found in Malaysia.  This discovery is therefore not likely to have come down from the north. This subspecies was discovered within the nature reserves and appear to be colonising more areas and is becoming more frequently encountered.  Eggs and caterpillars have been found on the Common Asystasia (Asystasia gangetica) and bred to adulthood.   A hypothesis is that the species could have escaped from the Butterfly Park and managed to breed on the very commonly found host plant which is found all over the island as a wild weed.  However this theory is only speculative and without hard evidence.  Nevertheless, Singapore is now endowed with another resident species, which is hopefully here to stay! ~ butterflycircle.com

NF Macro