HONG KONG BUTTERFLIES
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Two of the Hairstreaks (Thecladae) also have distinct seasonal differences. Arhopala centaurus, a recent discovery with a wing span of 55 mm. and royal blue in colour, has a broad black margin on both fore and hind wings in summer, and none in the dry season.
Iraota timoleon is deep Prussian blue in the wet season and the underside is chocolate brown with accentuated white markings. The winter form (maecaenas) is more violet in shade on the upperside, whilst the lower is chestnut and the white markings are greatly reduced.
The Curetis acuta varies more in the female than the male. latter is a brilliant copper in the wet season but, in the dry it is dulled by smokey scaling. The female, in the summer is a uniform black-brown with a few white scales in the centre of the wings. These are enlarged to big patches in the winter.
HEBOMOIA GLAUCIPPE
The most spectacular of the Pieridae family is Hebomoia glaucippe, the giant orange tip, whose powerful flight cannot fail to attract attention. With a wing span of over three inches its speed is phenomenal, for one instant it passes one on the mid levels and on the next it is on the peak. The undersides of both sexes are much alike, and when the insect settles to rest on the underside of a leaf, dropping the fore wings within the hind, it is very difficult to detect.
On the wing, however, it is a very conspicuous object as it careers wildly about. Though fond of flowers it spends little time on them. It is one of the few butterflies attracted by the large violet blue convolvulus, which has a very deep bell requiring a long proboscis to extract the nectar. The uppersides of both sexes are creamy white with a black triangular patch at the apex of the fore wings nearly filled with six golden orange stripes separated by the veining. The female is distinguished from the male by seven triangular black patches on the hind wings, and similar marks on the border. There is little seasonal variation, variation, but the sub-apical orange stripes in the female are rather larger and broader in the dry form, and the undersides in both sexes are usually more heavily marked in the wet.