A Tiny Addition to Malaysia's Butterfly Fauna: The Newly Recorded Species - Oriental Grass Jewel

A Tiny Addition to Malaysia's Butterfly Fauna: The Newly Recorded Species - Oriental Grass Jewel (Freyeria putli)

Over the past few decades, numerous butterfly species have been newly recorded in Malaysia. Among the most notable ones are:

Tawny Coster (Acraea terpsicore) - sighting by Simon Chan on 2002 at Petaling Jaya

Leopard Lacewing (Cethosia cyane) - Arshad et al., 2000 at Langkawi

Julia Heliconian (Dryas iulia) - sighthing by ButterflyCircle on 2009 at Langkawi

The latest addition:
Oriental Grass Jewel (Freyeria putli) - sighting by Chris Chapman on 2020

Background
The Oriental Grass Jewel butterfly species was not included in the early lists of Malaysia's butterfly fauna compiled by researchers and authors. This tiny species has a wingspan of 12-16mm, and during flight, it can be challenging to distinguish from the similarly sized Pygmy Grass Blue (Zizula hylax). As a result, this species may have been overlooked by many butterfly observers in the past.

Distribution
According to the latest records on iNaturalist (Mar 2023), the Oriental Grass Jewel butterfly species has a distribution range that extends from India to southern China, Thailand, Vietnam, and from there eastwards to Papua New Guinea and northern and eastern Australia.

Observation

During the observation of the Oriental Grass Jewel butterfly species at the Sg. Ara location in Penang, the host plant Indigofera hirsuta was discovered. Several Oriental Grass Jewel butterflies were observed flying around and laying eggs on the flower buds of this host plant.

Wingspan 12-16 mm.

Oriental Grass Jewel resting on the leaf of host plant

Host plant: Indigofera hirsuta

Host plant: Indigofera hirsuta

Flowers of Indigofera hirsuta

Flowers of Indigofera hirsuta

Seedpods of Indigofera hirsuta

Seed pods of Indigofera hirsuta

Open field habitat of Oriental Grass Jewel

Open field habitat of Oriental Grass Jewel

More photos:

Acknowledgement:
I would like to express my gratitude to Chris Chapman for his significant contribution to the discovery and dissemination of his findings on the Oriental Grass Jewel butterfly species located at Sg. Ara in Penang.

Reference:

A Photographic Monograph on Hong Kong Butterflies, Hong Kong Lepidopterists' Society

Butterflies of Thailand, 2nd Edition. Pisuth EK-AMNUAY

The Butterflies of the Malay Peninsula by A. Steven Corbet and H.M. Pendlebury (5th Edition).