First shot of the Blue Nawab resting on the floor near the public toilet at Mamam Beach Resting on a twig and holding on for dear life as it was windy! A final shot of it on the tip of a twig, looking majestic and proud.

"On one of our butterfly surveys at the Mamam Beach trail recently, a group of kind nature lovers pointed us to where they saved a female Blue Nawab (Polyura schreiber tisamenus) from the sea! I believe the butterfly had pupated nearby, and had just hatched. She must have accidentally flown off when her wings were not fully dried yet. She was apparently struggling in the water when she was rescued. In nature, this sometimes happens to butterflies, where upon hatching, it drops to the ground before the wings are fully expanded and dried. If this occurs, the butterfly will never fly again, as the crumpled wings will be permanently damaged. Out in the field, they will probably be predated on very quickly, as struggling or “lame” insects are always easy targets for predators. Coming back to the Blue Nawab… she appeared ok, and we were wondering why it could not fly, until someone in our group pointed out a line along her right hindwing where all the veins had snapped. Hence her hindwing must have been damaged when she took her maiden flight prematurely. We took her and posed her for some shots (of her undamaged side) and it was rather exciting to see this magnificent butterfly close up and “tame”. This species is a strong flyer, and under normal conditions we only get glimpses of it as it zooms by at high speeds. It is a large butterfly, and its caterpillar is known to feed on Rambutan (Nephelium lappaceum) and Red Saga (Adenanthera pavonina). There is a third species of host plant that we discovered its caterpillars on, and that is pending identification. Anyway, here’re the shots of this beautiful butterfly. This species seems to like back mangrove environments, and can often be spotted in Pulau Ubin and also at Sg Buloh Wetland Reserve. Of course, it’s also likely that the caterpillar host plants would be in the vicinity. "