BUTTERFLIES WITH see-through wings ... that was what I thought of the Green Dragontail (Lamproptera meges) and its cousin the White Dragontail (Lamproptera curius) when I first saw pictures of them. These are very distinctive insects with (partly) transparent wings and long, drooping tails (which are actually the hindwings). The two species are pictured in Dr Yong Hoi Sen's Malaysian Butterflies ~ An Introduction,   and the dorsal view of L. meges with wings outstretched shows up especially well the transparency of the wings.
 I had a glimpse of one of these creatures about a year ago (i.e. 1985) in the Ampang Nature Reserve outside Kuala Lumpur, but it was not until May 1985 that I had a close encounter with the Green Dragontail. It was my lucky first visit to the Sungai Lallang Forest Reserve near Semenyih in Selangor.
 Seeing this butterfly is an experience one is not likely to forget. In flight, the Green Dragontail vibrates its wings so rapidly that they appear as a bluish haze. One could almost feel it buzzing, but I was too pre-occupied with getting its picture to hear whether it was actually buzzing. It appeared to be a rather shy creature, taking to the air at the slightest movement. Its flight somewhat resembles that of a dragonfly but is more erratic. I waited, keeping quite still. The creature finally settled on a lichen-covered rock in the middle of a shallow stream. After a while

it did stop vibrating its wings as it settled down for a long drink. Still, I had to use a 300-mm telephoto lens to keep my distance.
 Although widely distributed - from Burma (Myanmar) to south China, Sundaland, the Philippines and Celebes (Sulawesi) - L. meges is not common. It is usually found singly near running water in sunlit spots in primary forests. Its cousin L. curius is even rarer. It closely resembles L. meges in appearance and in flight. As their common names indicate, the hindwing discal band is green in L. meges, while that of L. curius is white.
 (This article was published in Nature Malaysiana, Vol 11 No 1, January, 1986.)