When talking about butterflies, Huang Yu-wei (黃俞維), a research assistant at National Taiwan University Hospital, lights up.
Huang is the co-author of Ceng Luan Die Cui (層巒蝶翠, Range and Range of Butterflies), an illustrated handbook featuring more than 200 photographs of more than 120 species of butterflies from high mountain areas.
The book, which was released on Sept. 19, includes several rare butterfly species that have never before been featured in butterfly handbooks in Taiwan, which is home to more than 350 species of butterflies and is often dubbed the “Butterfly Kingdom.”
Photo: CNA
A graduate of life sciences and now a nature guide for the Butterfly Conservation Society of Taiwan, Huang, in his late 20s, said he has been fascinated by butterflies since he was a child and hopes to help more people become acquainted with the insect.
Huang began taking photographs of butterflies three years ago when he was serving his alternative military service at Taroko National Park in Hualien County. During his service, Huang often traveled to areas along the Central Cross-island Highway and sometimes deep into remote mountain regions or virgin forests in search of rare butterfly species.
Huang was even involved in two highway accidents as a result of his passion for butterflies, but that did not deter him.
Wang Ju-hua (王如華), a guide in the park and a friend of Huang’s, said the butterfly enthusiast often leaves early in the morning to shoot photographs of butterflies in cold and windy high mountain areas.
“Every time I see him walking back with his eyes sparkling, I know he’s got something special,” Wang said.
“During the surveying period, the most exciting thing was that I finally had a chance to take pictures of the Araragienthea morisonensis and the teratozephyruselatus,” Huang said.
This is the first time the two butterfly species have appeared in a local butterfly handbook. Pictures of the Araragienthea morisonensis — a white butterfly with gray dots — have appeared in a Japanese butterfly handbook before, while the teratozephyruselatus — a brown butterfly — was first discovered in Taiwan in 2005, Huang said.
After years of conducting surveys, Huang said that many of the butterfly species that are formally categorized as rare were actually not that rare. This indicated that butterfly studies in the country require further research, he said.
Despite this, environmental damage has threatened many high-mountain butterflies, which often produce only one generation a year and have a short lifespan, he said.
Growing vegetables in mountainous areas can also reduce the number of butterflies, and global warming could cause them to become endangered, said Huang, who called on the public to protect the environment for butterflies.
“The wings of butterflies are fragile and they can easily be hurt. The best way to remember them is to capture them with cameras,” he said.
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