Red-Backed Flameback or Lesser Sri Lanka Flameback (Dinopium psarodes) is a species of bird in the Picidae family, which includes the Sri Lanka Red-Backed Woodpecker and the Ceylon Red-Backed Woodpecker. Dinopium benghalense psarodes was later identified as a subspecies of the Black-rumped flameback (Dinopium benghalense). It was discovered to hybridize with the Black-rumped Flameback in this study. The hybridization is concentrated north of a border stretching from Trincomalee to the base of Puttalam lagoon and south of a border stretching from Mullaitivu to Mannar. It is one of three red-colored Flameback species found only in Sri Lanka and the Philippines.
Red-Backed Flameback or Lesser Sri Lanka Flameback (Dinopium psarodes) is a species of bird in the Picidae family, which includes the Sri Lanka Red-Backed Woodpecker and the Ceylon Red-Backed Woodpecker. Dinopium benghalense psarodes was later identified as a subspecies of the Black-rumped flameback (Dinopium benghalense). It was discovered to hybridize with the Black-rumped Flameback in this study. The hybridization is concentrated north of a border stretching from Trincomalee to the base of Puttalam lagoon and south of a border stretching from Mullaitivu to Mannar. It is one of three red-colored Flameback species found only in Sri Lanka and the Philippines.
Good capture man!
was hiding in the bushes lol the twigs was blocking the view
Lasiocampidae; Pinarinae; Streblote; Streblote castanea (Swinhoe, 1892). The caterpillar shown in my photos was spotted this afternoon in our backyard. When I transferred the pictures to my laptop, to see them better, I knew immediately that I didn't have a clue as to the identification of this organism, other than recognising it as a moth larva. So, I set about the task of identification in my own amateur way and I think I got it right. In the hope that it might help other novices like myself, I will outline how I went about finding the name of this moth. I am slightly familiar with Tussock Moth larvae (Lymantriinae) and also Lappet Moths (Lasiocampidae) because I know that they are both "hairy". I also know the name of the tree they were on So, I was already leaning towards one of those two types. I started by asking Google which moths used Moringa oleifera (the tree) as a host plant. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moringa_ol..... - appeared on my screen and in the Ecology Section, it stated that its pests included bark-eating caterpillars, hairy caterpillars and green leaf caterpillars. My caterpillars were hairy and since they did not have "Tussocks" (I wasn't sure about the black things near the head), I went looking for Lasiocampidae larvae in inaturalist.org. I saw Streblote stupidum, but it wasn't an exact match. After considerably more searching, I couldn't come up with an exact match. So, then I wondered if my caterpillars could belong to the Genus Streblote since S. stupidum was very close to being a match. I asked Google about the distribution of the Genus Streblote and that led me to https://www.biotaxa.org/em/article/view/...... - this was a scientific paper which confirmed that the species Streblote castanea was the sp. in Philippines and went on to detail that it was present on the following islands:- Cebu, Luzon. Mindanao, Mindoro, Negros, Palawan, Panay and Samar. Now, I was pretty much all set to identify my caterpillars as the larvae of S. castanea. Just one more step was required to give me the evidence I needed. I had to find out if there was more than one Streblote sp. in the Philippines. My luck was in, a quick visit to Philippine Lepidoptera soon confirmed that they had only four specimens displayed under the name Streblote castanea and no other spp. from the Genus Streblote. Of course, that does not mean that are no other Streblote spp. in the Philippines, it just means that PhiLep doesn't have any others, but since they are the foremost site in this field, I can feel pretty secure in calling these larvae Streblote castanea. However, please see Notes below.
Lasiocampidae; Pinarinae; Streblote; Streblote castanea (Swinhoe, 1892). The caterpillar shown in my photos was spotted this afternoon in our backyard. When I transferred the pictures to my laptop, to see them better, I knew immediately that I didn't have a clue as to the identification of this organism, other than recognising it as a moth larva. So, I set about the task of identification in my own amateur way and I think I got it right. In the hope that it might help other novices like myself, I will outline how I went about finding the name of this moth. I am slightly familiar with Tussock Moth larvae (Lymantriinae) and also Lappet Moths (Lasiocampidae) because I know that they are both "hairy". I also know the name of the tree they were on So, I was already leaning towards one of those two types. I started by asking Google which moths used Moringa oleifera (the tree) as a host plant. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moringa_ol..... - appeared on my screen and in the Ecology Section, it stated that its pests included bark-eating caterpillars, hairy caterpillars and green leaf caterpillars. My caterpillars were hairy and since they did not have "Tussocks" (I wasn't sure about the black things near the head), I went looking for Lasiocampidae larvae in inaturalist.org. I saw Streblote stupidum, but it wasn't an exact match. After considerably more searching, I couldn't come up with an exact match. So, then I wondered if my caterpillars could belong to the Genus Streblote since S. stupidum was very close to being a match. I asked Google about the distribution of the Genus Streblote and that led me to https://www.biotaxa.org/em/article/view/...... - this was a scientific paper which confirmed that the species Streblote castanea was the sp. in Philippines and went on to detail that it was present on the following islands:- Cebu, Luzon. Mindanao, Mindoro, Negros, Palawan, Panay and Samar. Now, I was pretty much all set to identify my caterpillars as the larvae of S. castanea. Just one more step was required to give me the evidence I needed. I had to find out if there was more than one Streblote sp. in the Philippines. My luck was in, a quick visit to Philippine Lepidoptera soon confirmed that they had only four specimens displayed under the name Streblote castanea and no other spp. from the Genus Streblote. Of course, that does not mean that are no other Streblote spp. in the Philippines, it just means that PhiLep doesn't have any others, but since they are the foremost site in this field, I can feel pretty secure in calling these larvae Streblote castanea. However, please see Notes below.