National first-class protected wildlife Golden Kaiserihind butterfly made its first appearance in Nanling mountains Guangdong Province

The Guangdong Cable film crew recently captured a priceless video of the national first-class protected wild animal Golden Kaiserihind butterfly in Guangdong Nanling National Nature Reserve, which was confirmed to be the first time the image of the Golden Kaiserihind was captured in the National Nature Reserve.

Golden Kaiserihind

The Golden Kaiserihind, also known as Teinopalpus aureus by its Latin name, primarily inhabits in subtropical or tropical sub-primeval forests at an altitude of about 1000 meters. Its host plants are magnolia plants such as Michelia maudiae Dunn, Michelia foveolata Merr. ex Dandy, Michelia macclurei Dandy and Manglietia yuyuanensis Y. W. Law. Golden Kaiserihind has a body length of about 30 mm, wingspan of about 110 mm. Its beautiful posture gives it the nicknames "dream butterfly" and "queen of butterflies”.

 

The Golden Kaiserihind butterfly can generally only breed two generations a year, which is endemic to China and the only butterfly which is listed as the national first-class protected wildlife in China. It ranks first among the eight most precious butterflies in the world.There are very few of them in the wild and they are rarely found.

 

"It was a great fortune to find and film the Golden Kaiserihind butterfly in the Nanling Nature Reserve." The film crew said. In order to find the traces of the Golden Kaiserihind butterfly, they spent weeks exploring   in several primeval dense forests, and finally found the traces of the  butterfly. Then they set up camera equipment in the nearby area to capture as many images of the butterfly as possible.

 

"At the beginning, we saw a butterfly in the camera, its wings were shining with a green luster, and there was an arc-shaped golden-green stripe on each of its forewings, but because the distance was too far, and the butterfly sometimes flew, sometimes hidden under the trees, it was difficult to shoot." The film crew said.

 

After the shooting, the staff confirmed the identity of the butterfly - a male Golden Kaiserihind butterfly with a body length of about 30 mm after carefully comparing with references and consulting experts.

 

As can be seen from the video, a male Golden Kaiserihind butterfly eats nectar in the grass-green flowers, sometimes flying high in the forest, sometimes resting among the flowers, gorgeous and noble, radiant, rarely going down to the ground for drinking water or other activities.

 

According to experts, male Golden Kaiserihind butterflies are quite territorial, they often rest at the top of trees to observe the surrounding, and patrolling in their territorial boundaries from time to time and drive other male butterflies out of their the territory. But, when a female butterfly enters the territory, they would take the initiative to come forward to courtship and seek mating opportunities.

 

According to experts, the Golden Kaiserihind butterflies are mainly living in southern China, but they have only been accurately recorded in a few areas(provinces) such as Guangdong, Jiangxi, Fujian, and Zhejiang. The Nanling area has a superior ecological environment, which provides a very good ecological environment for many wild animals and plants to breed. The Golden Kaiserihind butterflies that live here can find an abundant food supply and an ideal environment for their reproduction. The discovery of Golden Kaiserihind butterflies further manifests the biodiversity of Nanling mountains and contributes to the construction of Nanling National Park.

 

In recent years, Guangdong has actively promoted the conservation and sustainable development of Nanling ecosystem and biodiversity, focusing on the protection and restoration of landscapes, forests, lakes and grasslands, thus to promote the harmonious coexistence between human being and nature.

 

Today, as the establishment of Nanling National Park enters a new stage, the construction of national "ecology protection model city” is also on a fast track. Shaoguan municipality will strengthen the construction of national key ecological function areas in Nanling mountains, continue to strengthen in situ protection and ex situ protection of the species, maintain biodiversity, and build a green ecological barrier for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.