Gallery 5

Butterflies

I collected butterflies for the Solomon Islands Government collection at Dodo Creek - which I understand was destroyed in the troubles.  I have not wished to capture them since, except as images.

Whilst I could never view their landscapes through their alien, compound eyes I do try to imagine what the world would look like from their perspective.

The Australian butterflies were from Humpty Doo and I thank Dr Don Franklin and the NT Field Naturalists Club for identifying them.  The Solomon Islands butterflies are in a notebook.  I have tentatively identified them from John Tennant's book, Butterflies of Solomon Islands.

My Butterfly

In 1984 I caught few specimens of this delilcate silvery Lycaenid butterfly - I realised it was new to science. Some were sent to the British Museum whre they were named Solomona sutakiki malaitae and are shown in John Tennant's book. Despite a careful search, my butterfly has never been recorded since.

watercolour in notebook

Dingy Bush Brown

This butterfly is a common inhabitant of tall grasses. Original aquired for the Royal Darwin Hospital's new Oncology Ward

watercolour

65cm x 85cm

Two small dusky blues

(Candalides erinus)

Watercolour

65cm x 85cm

Mynas sp

I think this one was from the Sasa River, Guadalcanal

Watercolour in a notebook

Egg fly – female

(Hypolimnas bolina)

Watercolour

65cm x 85cm

Euploea treitschkei lorenzo

Grass Yellows

Acquired for the Royal Darwin Hospital Oncology Ward

Watercolour

65cm x 85cm

Purple Beak

Seen on the beach on Guadalcanal with the volcanic island, Savo in the distance.

Watercolour in a notebook

Orange Ringlets

(Hypocysta adiante)

Watercolour

65cm x 85cm

Euploea nechos?

Endemic to the Island of Makira

Watercolour in a notebook

Blue Argus

(Junonia orithya)

Watercolour

65cm x 85cm

Parantia schenkii

A transparent butterfly,in mangroves in New Georgia, Solomon Islands

Watercolour in a notebook