Caedes

  Rice Paper butterfly  

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Uploaded: 04/19/08 8:09 AM GMT
Rice Paper butterfly
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Paper Kite or the Rice Paper butterfly (Idea leuconoe) is known especially for its presence in butterfly greenhouses and live butterfly expositions. The Paper Kite is of Southeast Asian origin. This species was thought to have gone extinct from Singapore. Already a very rare butterfly even in Malaysia, Idea leuconoe chersonesia is a seashore species known to only make its appearance deep in mangrove swamp vegetation. Although there were several unconfirmed reports of its sighting at Pulau Ubin and Pulau Tekong in the late 80's, no confirmed observation of its existence was obtained until recently, where this photograph of the species was taken with a digital camera. It was indeed a pleasant surprise to record the existence of Idea leuconoe chersonesia in Singapore. Idea leuconoe chersonesia is a black and white butterfly like the other species of the genus Idea, but the marginal and submarginal spots are conjoined to form an irregular black band, and the wing bases are yellow-tinted. Like the other Idea species, the butterfly glides gracefully amongst the treetops and floats like a piece of paper. The butterfly is believed to be distasteful to predators.

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