Bright and Beautiful Butterflies

Butterflies are lovely creatures – colourful, dainty, delicate. They are a part of the largest insect order ‘Lepidoptera’, which literally means ‘scaled wings’. They differ from all other insects because of the two pairs of scaly membranous wings that they possess. Their colourful, and sometimes detailed, patterns serve many purposes from blending to their surroundings to attracting a mate. 

Butterflies have been the subject of stamps in many countries. Sri Lankan butterflies are featured in two sets of stamps – each set comprising four stamps.  

Recently Australia released four stamps featuring bright and beautiful butterflies. There are almost 90 species of butterflies in Australia.

Pale Triangle (Graphium eutypylus), top left, is a member of the swallowtail family. Swallowtails are typically large, boldly coloured and decorative and are so called for the presence of a tail on the hind wing. It can be distinguished from the Blue Triangle (Graphium sarpedon) by the extra white spots in the black areas along the outside of its forewings.

Chequered Swallowtail (Papiliodemoleus) – top right, and the Cairns Birdwing (Ornihopeera euphorion) – bottom right, are also members of the swallowtail family. The latter is found only in coastal areas of north-east Queensland. The female of the species is the largest butterfly found in Australia, with a wingspan of around 15 to 20 centimetres. 

Bordered Rustic (Cupha proscope) is a medium-sized butterfly. It is seen in sunny areas, small clearings and along creeks, at the edges of thick rainforest in some coastal areas in New South Wales and Queensland. 

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka has a total 245 species of butterflies recorded in the island, of which21 are endemic. The number is not considered large when compared to Panama which is virtually the same size as Sri Lanka but boasts of 1,500 species.

Butterflies are protected under Sri Lankan law to prevent them being sent out of the country due to their commercial value. 

Sri Lanka’s largest butterfly is the Ceylon Birdwing with the wing span ranging from 95 to 135mm while the smallest is the Grass Jewel, which measures only 8-13mm. 

The first set of stamps on butterflies was released on 28 November 1978. Four types were featured.

Common Birdwing (Tvoides helena darsus) 25 cents has a wingspan of about 13-17 cm. The black butterfly is a member of the Papilionidae family. The hind wings are golden. The females are dark-brown and larger than the males. They have black spots on their hind wings.

Lacewing Butterfly (Cethosia nietneri) is endemic to the Western Ghats of India and Sri Lanka, where it commonly cuts through the breezes from the months of June to September. Frequent at the onset of monsoon season, the beautiful butterfly usually disappears by September or October.

Sri Lanka’s first set of stamps on butterflies released on 28 November 1978, featuring four types

Sri Lanka’s second set of stamps on butterflies, issued on 30 December 1999; they were fairly high-priced stamps

South Indian Blue Oakleaf (Kallima horsfieldii) Rs. 5. The underside appears like a dry leaf complete with midrib while the upper-side is brilliantly coloured. Males and females are indigo-blue. Antennae dark brown; head, thorax and abdomen very dark greenish brown; beneath, the palpi, thorax and abdomen ochraceous earthy brown.

Blue Mormon (Papilio polymnestor) Rs. 10 is a large swallow butterfly. Males have the upper wings rich velvety black. The fore wing has a post-discal ban d and the hind wing has the terminal three-fourths beyond a line crossing the apical third of the pale blue, or greyish blue, with a series of black spots. 

A second set of four stamps was issued on 30 December 1999. They were fairly high-priced stamps.

Striped Albatross (Appias libythea) Rs. 3.50 – belongs to the Pieridae family. Most common in the lowlands of southern Sri Lanka in large numbers around mud pools in ‘villus’ in forests.

Ceylon Tiger (Parantica taprobana) Rs. 13.50 – is a member of the Danidae family. Endemic to Sri Lanka. Found only in the highlands above the elevation of 1,000 metres above sea level. Prefers forested areas like Horton Plains national park.

Three-spot Grass Yellow (Eurema blanda) Rs. 17 – A Pieridae family member is common throughout lowlands and mid-hills.

The Great Orange Tip (Hebomoia glaucippe) Rs. 20 – is another member of the Pieridae family. Common in the lowlands and mid-hill up to about 500 metres above sea level. 

The spectacular migration of the Common Emigrants or Lemon Emigrants to the top of ‘Samanala Kanda’ (Adam’s Peak) during April and May is indeed a sight to see. The medium-sized butterfly found in Asia and some parts of Australia is said to be migrating due to change in seasons. 

Sir Emerson Tenent describes this sight in ‘Ceylon – An Account of the Island ‘(1859) thus: Butterflies of large size and gorgeous colouring flutter over the endless span of flowers, and frequently the extraordinary sight presents itself of flights of these delicate creatures, generally of a white of pale yellow hue, apparently miles in breadth, and of such prodigious extension as to occupy hours, and even days, uninterruptedly in their passage – whence coming no one knows; whither going no one can tell.

His observations on butterflies reads: “Butterflies in the interior of the island are comparatively rare and contrary to the ordinary belief, they are seldom to be seen in the sunshine. They frequent the neighbourhood of the jungle and specially the vicinity of the rivers an waterfalls living mainly in the shade of the moist foliage, and returning to it in haste after the shortest flights, as if their slender bodies were specially dried up and exhausted by the exposure to the intense hat.”