Wildlife of S. E. Asia and S. America. A Photo Journal by Francis Burlingham.: Cat Tien NP Vietnam and the Ruby Eyed Pit Viper

Introduction

Over the last few years I have been lucky enough to live in Thailand, China, Malaysia, Vietnam, Colombia and now Brunei. In my spare time I have had the opportunity to travel fairly widely, camera in hand, in search of wildlife. In these posts I aim to share some of these experiences and show you some of the extraordinary wildlife that can be found in these regions. All of the photographs you see within the posts and pages here are my own unless otherwise stated. Copyright © Francis Burlingham 2015

Monday, 10 June 2019

Cat Tien NP Vietnam and the Ruby Eyed Pit Viper

Roughly just over a month since my last visit to Cat Tien NP I got the chance to return for a few days. The highlight of this trip was to find the ruby-eyed green pit viper (Cryptelytrops rubeus), a species unknown to science until 2011, and endemic to this part of Vietnam.

Cryptelytrops rubeus (Ruby-eyed green pit viper) Cat Tien NP Vietnam

The snake was in vegetation close to the path to the crocodile lake. It was a young female roughly 40cm in length.

Cryptelytrops rubeus (Ruby-eyed green pit viper) Cat Tien NP Vietnam

At the crocodile lake, a lesser Adjutant was hunting.

Leptoptilos javanicus (Lesser Adjutant) Cat Tien NP Vietnam

Standing at about 1m 20cm tall, this large stork seemed unconcerned by the people in the viewing platform as it wandered by after hunting on the lake edge.

Leptoptilos javanicus (Lesser Adjutant) Cat Tien NP Vietnam

The wet season was well underway and the river through the park was much fuller than before.

Ben Cu Rapids

The vegetation along the trails was visibly higher and the swarms of butterflies that were present on my last visit had all but disappeared. However, different species were now present. Gone were the Graphium puddles on the banks of the rapids. Instead, Papilio (Swallowtail) species now were more common on the road through the park.

Papilio nephelus chaon (Yellow Helen) Cat Tien NP Vietnam

The most numerous were the Yellow Helen butterflies, but also present was the slightly larger Red Helen.

Papilio helenus (Red Helen) Cat Tien NP Vietnam

Previously I had also encountered the rare Blue Helen, making it 3 Helens for the park.

Papilio prexaspes (The Blue Helen) Cat Tien NP Vietnam

Other Papilio included the Lime, Great Mormon, Common Mormon and rather rare Raven.

Papilio polytes (Common Mormon) Cat Tien NP Vietnam

The Graphium species the Common Jay and Great Jay were also still numerous.

From left: Papilio castor (The Common Raven) , Papilio memnon (Great Mormon),Graphium doson (Common Jay), Graphium eurypylus (Great Jay) and Graphium sarpendon (Blue Bottle).

Papilio demoleus (Lime Butterfly) Cat Tien NP Vietnam

The Pagoda Flower, Clerodendrum paniculatum, a tall red flower was blooming throughout the park and attracting a variety of butterflies including loads of wanderer butterflies.

Pareronia hippia (Common Wanderer) on Pagoda Flower, Clerodendrum paniculatum. Cat Tien NP Vietnam

I was lucky enough one night to witness the emergence of thousands of flying termites. These winged male and female termites only emerge once a year to breed and start new colonies. They were attracted by the lights of the hotel.