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LIFE HISTORIES OF SINGAPORE BUTTERFLIES
No research of butterflies would be complete without the study of their life histories. It may not be commonly known that many species will only feed on one type of food plant. The survival of that buttefly species therefore depends solely on the availability of the food plant. In developing countries where the indigeneous flora are cleared for development and replaced with "pest-resistant" plants, the survivability of certain species of butterflies is severely threatened.
The next few pages are shots of my attempts to study the life cycle of certain species of butterflies. The information on the food plants of Singapore butterflies is still poor, and for only a handful of the species do we know what the food plants are.
The photography of the entire life cycle of a species takes a lot of patience and luck. The cycle from egg to adult may take anything from 2 weeks to 6 weeks.
LIFE HISTORY OF SINGAPORE BUTTERFLIES
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