Max Anderson

This Green Dragontail has to be up there with one of the most ostentatious butterflies here in Borneo. The transparent sections of the forewing, and those tails!

After I spotted this extremely rare Allotinus brooksi butterfly in Borneo, I was amazed to find what looked like midges on its underwing. Not just one or two, but a whopping eight!

Not something I've ever seen before!

Super excited to find the incredibly rare, Allotinus brooksi in Sabah, Borneo!

Over 110 years after this impressive butterfly was first discovered and collected in Sarawak, it was spotted for the first time in 2021, here in Sabah!

The Five-bar Swordtail from Thailand. Lover of puddles.

Common Mapwing from the island of Koh Chang, Thailand. You can see where these stunning but flighty butterflies get their name. They're often found taking up nutrients from damp ground near open streams and waterfalls.

The immature stages of many Lepidoptera are known to fluoresce when showered with UV radiation - but what is the evolutionary advantage of doing this? An article, by Ben Greenaway, may explain why: www.dispar.org/reference.ph.... Purple Emperor pre-pupation larva and pupa photos below.

Between 2014 & 2016, I studied the Chequered Skipper in Scotland. One memorable encounter was watching a larva spin silk between the edges of a leaf. As silk dries, it contracts, and this pulled the leaf edges together to create a protective tube. Amazing! More at www.dispar.org/reference.ph...

Yes, it also works on Brown Hairstreak larvae. Doesn't work for eggs. Definitely wear UV protective glasses as they protect your eyes and make finding the larvae even easier.

This is fluoresence, not reflection. The caterpillar absorbs the UV and re-emits something in our visible spectrum. So in theory, it may function as a defence against predatory birds that can see in the UV spectrum.

New, innovative approaches have made finding and monitoring Purple Hairstreak larvae far easier. Using UV torchlight can help to better understand the ecology, distribution, population density and dynamics of this incredible species, amongst others!

Common Pierrot, Southern Laos

While in Southern Laos last week, I had a look around some Ziziphus jujuba on the side of a path and found some eggs and caterpillars of the Common Pierrot butterfly. Great fun!

This remarkable Lycaenid butterfly from Northern Thailand is the Fluffy Tit, Hypolycaena amasa. Just look at those outrageous tails!

Semi-open riparian forest and forest edge habitats here in Northern Thailand are amazing places for butterflies. The abundance and diversity is so refreshing to see.

Huge congrats Will! Fantastic news!

We've spent a few days hiking in Northern Thailand, and it's been so rewarding to stumble across some of the most stunning butterflies.

Behold, the imposing, Indian Purple Emperor. Here in Northern Thailand, they descend to take up minerals from the rocky banks of a stream, starting a fight with almost anything that passes by.

Common Pierrot, from Northern Vietnam. The adults are pretty chilled out and a bit less flighty than many other Lycaenids tend to be. Stunning little butterfly.

Certainly is.. the ants seem to completely avoid the adults

The adults often lay these amazing eggs amongst or near aphids and ants, to save the caterpillar time in finding its first meal. What an astonishing life-history strategy!

Here's the caterpillar of Bigg's Brownwing butterfly from Vietnam, which feed on aphids. They're often found being carefully chaperoned and inspected by ants, which farm the aphids for honeydew.

This is Bigg's Brownwing, Miletus biggsii, an amazing butterfly from Vietnam. As a caterpillar, they eat aphids!

Three Tawny Coster butterflies (Acraea terpsicore) settling in for the evening in Southern Vietnam.

Unfortunately this doesn't work every time!

They have a really cool behaviour where they use a specialised organ (osmeterium) for defending themselves against predators or pests. They arch backwards and extend the osmeterium to deter the pest.

The caterpillars are geared up for defence, even at their early instars

My wife and I are spending the next year or so travelling around S.E. Asia. We're currently in Southern Vietnam and I've been spending some time relaxing and watching butterflies, like this egg-laying Tailed Jay, Graphium agamemnon.