Melaka butterfly sanctuary still struggling to breed Idea lynceus on large scale

By Mohd Fakri Awang Lah

MELAKA, Dec 15 -- The Melaka Butterfly and Reptile Sanctuary in Ayer Keroh, here, is still struggling with efforts to resume its research on the Malaysian tree-nymph butterfly.

Its manager Qurratu A'in Rohaminordin said the large-scale breeding of the butterfly which is a species of nymphalid butterfly in the Danainae subfamily was still unsucessful due to several factors.

“Among them, we are still experiencing a shortage of workers after some of them were laid off as we are not able to cover operating expenses due to a lack of ticket sales when the movement control order was enforced by the government previously.

“As a result, we are unable to carry out works to take care the host tree and collect the butterfly eggs. Another factor is the old laboratory,” she told Bernama.

Qurratu A’in said the Melaka Butterfly and Reptile Sanctuary was the only conservatory in the world that has taken the initiative to carry out a breeding programme for the Malaysian butterfly species that could occasionally be found in Indonesia and Thailand.

She said studies on the idea lynceus species had been conducted by the conservation centre for the past 16 years which saw the level of understanding about the butterfly including its gender and host tree, reaching 90 per cent.

Despite the financial constraints, she said efforts to breed the species that can grow up to 165 mm on a small scale have been ongoing for the past two months after the research was stopped on Feb 1.

“A few weeks ago we managed to breed 25 butterflies but they only lived for two weeks and their eggs were eaten by rats and cockroaches.

“We only have less than 10 idea lynceus now that are very sensitive and our workers need to have skills to take care of them,” she said, adding that it would take a long time to breed the butterflies on a large scale. 

Qurratu A’in said the tree-nymph butterfly also requires a special type of plant, namely the Agnosma sp, which is difficult to grow even in a controlled environment.

She said although one-third of the 2.83ha area of the sanctuary was planted with 100 Agnosma sp trees, only one survived.

Meanwhile, Qurratu A’in said although the santuary has started welcoming back visitors, it needs time to recover from its financial setback.

“Many assume that once the travel restrictions are lifted, our research can resume, but it’s not that easy, especially when the economic condition has also affected this conservatory,” she said.

However, she was grateful that despite the implementation of the movement restrictions, the sanctuary managed to breed 10 white peacocks, 11 emus and 15 veiled chameleons.

Bernama previously reported that the butterfly, which is characterised by its translucent white wings patterned with black veins and oval black spots, faces a risk of extinction when the 16-year research on the rare species conducted at the Melaka Butterfly and Reptile Sanctuary may not continue due to a lack of funds.

-- BERNAMA