3584. Brown butterflies - Horsfield's Baron Plant Melastoma malabathricum Ahoala aurea

 Host plant : Melastoma malabathricum. Leaves, flower buds and flowers are shown.

A male Horsfield's Baron perching with a closed-wing posture.
Field Observations of Butterfly Behaviour:

The Horsfield's Baron is relatively common in Singapore. They are mainly found in the nature reserves, but at times adults can be seen flying in public parks and wastelands where the host plants are growing in abundance. Both sexes have the habit of resting on perches with wings open. The male exhibits territorial behaviour of chasing intruders in the vicinity of its perch. On rare occasions, the male have been observed to puddle on damp ground. Refer to this earlier butterfly-of-the-month article for a more detailed write-up on this species.

Early Stages:

The host plant, Melastoma malabathricum, is a widespread weed in Singapore. An earlier blog article has a detailed write-up of its characteristics and its relationship with other local butterfly species. Caterpillars of Horsfield's Baron feed on the middle-aged to mature leaves of this amazing plant.

a mother H B laying an egg on the leaf tip 

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Arhopala aurea

Family:	Lycaenidae
Subfamily:	Lycaeninae
Genus	Arhopala
Species:	aurea
Life History:	incomplete
Extant in countries:	•Singapore

Description
The males of this Arhopala species have forewings with a rather acute apex, unlike the usual Arhopala wing shape. However, the females possess the usual Arhopala characteristics in having rounded forewings.

The male of Arhopala aurea is a bright coppery green above with a slight basal bluish scaling. The hindwing border is broad and irregular and the green scaling does not reach the termen.

The female is purple-blue above in the usual Arhopala fashion. Both sexes have short stumpy tails with tornal green scales.

Habitat & Habits
Arhopala aurea, and another closely related species, Arhopala trogon are reported to be less uncommon in Singapore than on mainland Malaysia. Indeed, this is still the case, as the species are still evident in certain parts of the nature reserves even as recent as November 2001.