Monday, September 13, 2010

Great Mormon Swallowtail

Great Mormon SwallowtailThe Great Mormon Swallowtail { Papilio memnon }. Photographed at Kipandi Butterfly Park.

Lightbox

The Great Mormon Swallowtail { Papilio memnon } is a common South-Asian butterfly and is widely distributed in 13 subspecies (4 male and 9 female forms). This is a large butterfly with contrasting colors. The wingspan is 12 ~15 cm (4.7 ~ 5.9 inches). The male never has a tail, and is deep blue to black. It may or may not have red streak on the forewing. The female may be tailed (alcanor) or tailess (butlerianus, polymnestoroides). The upperside forewing is ground colour sepia with greyish white streak. The upperside hindwing is blue-black with 5 to 7 yellow or white discal patches. It is polymorphic and with mimetic forms. ( Excellent information is available on Wikipedia.)

This photo was taken at the Kipandi Butterfly Park, 36 km from Kota Kinabalu. It shows a male fluttering and tugging at the lantana. The butterfly and flower were vibrating quite vigorously.

Friday, September 3, 2010

old wooden shophouses at kinarut town

old wooden shophouses at kinarut town

Kinarut is a town located about 17 km from Kota Kinabalu and just a few km from Putatan. It is one of the stops for the North Borneo Railway {out of commission for upgrading works}. A small town with just two rows of wooden shophouses and two rows of new concrete ones, the population here is 15,716 (circa 2006) consisting mainly Bajaus and Dusuns.

Kinarut is one of three places in Sabah with "kina" as part of its name. The word probably comes from the early connection with the Chinese. "Cina" is Malay for chinese. The other two are Kota Kinabalu (which derive its name from Mt Kinabalu, the highest mountain in South East Asia) and Kinabatangan River (the longest river in Sabah).

~Lightbox~

Flickr Tags: ,,,