Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Tailed Jay/Green Jay (Graphium Agamemnon menides)


Tailed Jay is a common butterfly found in all elevations of the country throughout the year. However it is much common in the wet zone. It flies very fast and only stops a very short time at each flower. Also when disturbed it take off vertically to considerable height before fly away. So that Tailed Jay is considered as a very difficult butterfly to photograph. The larva feeds on various plants of family Annonaceae such as Annona muricata (කටු අනෝදා/කටු ආත්තා/රට අනෝදා/Soursop), Annona reticulata (අනෝදා/වැලි ආත්තා), Annona squamosa(සීනි ආතා/අනෝදා/Sugar Apple), Annona glabra (වෙල් ආතා/Pond Apple/Alligator Apple/Monkey Apple), Annona cherimola, Uvaria zeylanica (පාලඟ/පලු කන්),Uvaria macropoda, Uvaria narum, Uvaria semecarpifolia, Uvaria sphenocarpa, Artabotrys zeylanicus (කලු බඹර වැල්/පටික වැල්/යකඩ වැල්)Artabotrys hexapetalus, Polyalthia korinti (මීවැන්න/උල් කෙන්ද), Polyalthia longifolia (දේවදාර/ඊ පෙත්ත/ඕවිළ/ඕලිල)Polyalthia suberosa, Polyalthia cerasoides, Miliusa indica (කෙකිළි මැස්ස/කුකුළු මැස්ස)Miliusa tomentosa, Goniothalamus gardneri and Xylopia championii. Tailed Jay larva also feeds on සපු/Champak (Michelia champaca)  and  Persea americana (අලිගැට පේරAvacado/Alligator pear)