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Common Tit
Hypolycaena erylus tmolus
15.456, 119.922
Field Notes
Description:
Lycaenidae; Lycaeninae; Theclini; Hypolycaena erylus tmolus C.& R.Felder 1862. When this butterfly opened its wings wide enough to display the blue colour, I thought I was looking at an Indigo Flash (Rapala varuna nada Fruhstorfer, 1912), one that has been on my bucket list for a long time, but no such luck. A quick check on the photos of the underside of the wings made it clear that I was looking at H. e. tmolus (male) - confirmed by pictures in Philippine Lepidoptera. None the less, it was a good enough outcome because H. e. tmolus was also a species that was missing form my butterfly photo collection.
Habitat:
This butterfly was spotted in our backyard sitting on a leaf of a Potato Bean (Pachyrhizus erosus), locally known as Sinkamas. I don't think that this plant has any significance in the habitat of this Common Tit. I mention it only because it is there in the photos. However, I am pretty sure the butterfly was just enjoying a moment, warming itself, in the rather weak morning sunshine we get in the rainy season. Philippine Lepidoptera say "Many of the larvae feed on various deciduous hardwood tree species." and there are hardwood trees here and there in our backyard. Also, the adult butterflies can often be seen visiting our flowerbeds. I would say that our backyard is probably typical of the habitat of this species and the big leaves of the "Sinkamas" were purely a convenient resting place, a fence post would probably have done just as well.
Notes:
Plant identification - http://www.stuartxchange.com/Sinkamas.html
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