RAMA-RAMA / BUTTERFLY

A butterfly is an insect of the order Lepidoptera. Like all Lepidoptera, butterflies are notable for their unusual life cycle with a larval caterpillar stage, an inactive pupal stage, and a spectacular metamorphosis into a familiar and colourful winged adult form. Most species are day-flying so they regularly attract attention. The diverse patterns formed by their brightly coloured wings and their erratic yet graceful flight have made butterfly watching a hobby.

Butterflies comprise the true butterflies (superfamily Papilionoidea), the skippers (superfamily Hesperioidea) and the moth-butterflies (superfamily Hedyloidea). Butterflies exhibit polymorphism, mimicry and aposematism. Some migrate over long distances. Some butterflies have evolved symbiotic and parasitic relationships with social insects such as ants. Butterflies are important economically as agents of pollination. In addition, a few species are pests, because they can damage domestic crops and trees in their larval stage.

Culturally, butterflies are a popular motif in the visual and literary arts.

The four-stage lifecycle

Unlike many insects, butterflies do not experience a nymph period, but instead go through a pupal stage which lies between the larva and the adult stage (the imago). Butterflies are termed as holometabolous insects, and go through complete metamorphosis.

• Egg
• Larva, known as a caterpillar
• Pupa (chrysalis)
• Adult butterfly (imago)

It is a popular belief that butterflies have very short life spans. However, butterflies in their adult stage can live from a week to nearly a year depending on the species. Many species have long larval life stages while others can remain dormant in their pupal or egg stages and thereby survive winters.^[1]

Butterflies may have one or more broods per year. The number of generations per year varies from temperate to tropical regions with tropical regions showing a trend towards multivoltinism.

Pepatung / Dragonfly

Pepatung merupakan sejenis serangga dalam order Odonata, suborder Epicrota atau, lebih tepat lagi di bawah infraorder Anisoptera. Ia dikategorikan bedasarkan ciri-ciri mata bersegi besar, mempunyai 2 pasang sayap yang kuat dan lutsinar, dan berbadan panjang. Walaupun pepatung mempunyai 6 kaki seperti serangga-serangga lain, ia tetap tidak boleh berjalan. Pepatung juga merupakan serangga yang paling laju terbang.

Pepatung adalah pemangsa berguna yang memakan nyamuk, dan pelbagai serangga kecil lain seperti lalat, lebah, semut dan kupu-kupu. Ia biasanya boleh dijumpai di sekitar tasik, kolam, sungai dan tanah lembap kerana larvanya, yang juga dikenali sebagai “nimfa”, adalah bersifat akuatik.

Nimfa boleh memberi kesan gigitan yang menyakitkan apabila terancam. Pastikan anda membersihkan kawasan gigitan seluruhnya untuk mencegah jangkitan air tersimpan di bawah kulit.

Kitaran hidup

Pepatung betina bertelur di dalam atau berhampiran dengan air, pada kebiasaannya di atas tumbuhan terapung atau tumbuhan baru. Semasa bertelur, sesetengah spesies akan menyelam sepenuhnya untuk bertelur dalam permukaan yang baik. Telur tersebut kemudiannya menetas menjadi nimfa. Kebanyakan kehidupan pepatung diluangkan di dalam naiad (sejenis bentuk nimfa), di bawah permukaan air, menggunakan muncung yang boleh dipanjangkan untuk menangkap invertebrata atau vertebrata lain seperti berudu, ikan dan lain-lain. Mereka bernafas melalui insang yang terdapat di dalam rectum, dan boleh menggerakkan badan mereka dengan pantas melalui cara memaksa air keluar dari anus secara tiba-tiba. Sesetengah nimfa juga memburu di darat, satu kebolehan yang agak biasa pada zaman dahulu ketika pemangsa di bumi masih lembab.

Peringkat larva bagi pepatung yang besar boleh mencecah sehingga 5 tahun. Dalam spesies yang lebih kecil, peringkat ini hanya mengambil masa antara 2 bulan hingga 3 tahun. Apabila larva telah bersedia untuk menjalani metamorfosis menjadi dewasa,ia akan memanjat lalang air atau tumbuhan terapung. Keadaan terdedah kepada udara menyebabkan larva mula bernafas. Kulit larva atau juga digelar sebagai kepompong akan terbuka pada bahagian yang lemah dan lembut di belakang kepala. Kemudian, pepatung dewasa akan merangkak keluar dari kulit larva yang lama lalu mengembangkan sayapnya dan terbang mencari lalat atau serangga kecil sebagai makanan. Peringkat dewasa bagi kebanyakan pepatung hanya selama 4 bulan.

Pepatung dalam kehidupan manusia

Di Eropah, pepatung selalu dianggap sebagai satu ancaman. Di sebahagian negara Amerika Selatan, pepatung juga dipanggil metacaballo yang bermaksud pembunuh kuda memandangkan ia dilihat boleh mendatangkan bahaya kerana sesetengah spesies adalah sangat besar untuk dikategorikan sebagai serangga. Walau bagaimanapun, pepatung mempunyai reputasi yang lebih baik di Asia Timur dan pedalaman Amerika. Di pedalaman Amerika, ia dipercayai sebagai simbol perubahan selepas berusaha bersungguh-sungguh melakukan sesuatu. Di negara Jepun pula, pepatung dianggap sebagai lambang keberanian, kekuatan dan kegembiraan, malah ia sering dipersembahkan dalam seni dan kesusasteraan terutamanya haiku. Pepatung juga pernah digunakan sebagai ubat pada zaman dahulu di negara China dan Jepun. Di sebahagian kawasan di Bumi seperti di Indonesia, ia juga merupakan sumber makanan yang dimakan sama ada dewasa ataupun larva.

Gambar-gambar menarik tentang pepatung adalah biasa dalam Art Nouveau, terutamanya dalam mereka bentuk barang kemas. Ia juga digunakan sebagai motif dekoratif pada fabrik dan hiasan rumah.

A dragonfly is a type of insect belonging to the order Odonata, the suborder Epiprocta or, in the strict sense, the infraorder Anisoptera. It is characterized by large multifaceted eyes, two pairs of strong transparent wings, and an elongated body. Dragonflies are similar to damselflies, but the adults can be differentiated by the fact that the wings of most dragonflies are held away from, and perpendicular to, the body when at rest. Even though dragonflies possess 6 legs like any other insect, they are not capable of walking.

Dragonflies are valuable predators that eat mosquitoes, and other small insects like flies, bees, ants, and butterflies. They are usually found around lakes, ponds, streams and wetlands because their larvae, known as “nymphs”, are aquatic.

Nymphs can deliver a painful bite when threatened. The wound should be cleaned thoroughly to prevent water-borne infections.

Life cycle

Female dragonfly lay eggs in or near water, often on floating or emergent plants. When laying eggs, some species will submerge themselves completely in order to lay their eggs on a good surface. The eggs then hatch into nymphs. Most of a dragonfly’s life is spent in the naiad (that is, nymph) form, beneath the water’s surface, using extendable jaws to catch other invertebrates or even vertebrates such as tadpoles, fish, etc. They breathe through gills in their rectum, and can rapidly propel themselves by suddenly expelling water through the anus.[1] Some nymphs even hunt on land,[2] an aptitude which could easily have been more common in ancient times when terrestrial predators were clumsier.

The larval stage of large dragonflies may last as long as five years. In smaller species, this stage may last between two months and three years. When the larva is ready to metamorphose into an adult, it climbs up a reed or other emergent plant. Exposure to air causes the larvae to begin breathing. The skin splits at a weak spot behind the head and the adult dragonfly crawls out of its old larval skin, pumps up its wings, and flies off to feed on midges and flies. The adult stage of larger species of dragonfly can last as long as five or six months.

Classification (Anisozygoptera)
Formerly, the Anisoptera were given suborder rank beside the “ancient dragonflies” (Anisozygoptera) which were believed to contain the two living species of the genus Epiophlebia and numerous fossil ones. More recently it turned out that the “anisozygopterans” form a paraphyletic assemblage of morphologically primitive relatives of the Anisoptera. Thus, the Anisoptera (true dragonflies) are reduced to an infraorder in the new suborder Epiprocta (dragonflies in general). The artificial grouping Anisozygoptera is disbanded, its members being largely recognized as extinct offshoots at various stages of dragonfly evolution. The two living species formerly placed there — the Asian relict dragonflies — form the infraorder Epiophlebioptera alongside the Anisoptera.

Pelangi/Rainbow

A rainbow is an optical and meteorological phenomenon that causes a spectrum of light to appear in the sky when the Sun shines onto droplets of moisture in the Earth’s atmosphere. They take the form of a multicolouredarc, with red on the outer part of the arch and violet on the inner section of the arch.

A rainbow spans a continuous spectrum of colours. Traditionally, however, the sequence is quantised. The most commonly cited and remembered sequence, in English, is Newton’s sevenfold red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. “Roy G. Biv” and “Richard Of York Gave/Gained Battle In Vain” are popular mnemonics. Another one is “Read Out Your Green Book In Verse”.

Visibility

Rainbows can be observed whenever there are water drops in the air and sunlight shining from behind a person at a low altitude angle (on the ground). The most spectacular rainbow displays happen when half of the sky is still dark with raining clouds and the observer is at a spot with clear sky in the direction of the Sun. The result is a luminous rainbow that contrasts with the darkened background.

The rainbow effect is also commonly seen near waterfalls or fountains. The effect can also be artificially created by dispersing water droplets into the air during a sunny day. Rarely, a moonbow, lunar rainbow or nighttime rainbow, can be seen on strongly moonlit nights. As human visual perception for colour is poor in low light, moonbows are often perceived to be white.^[1] It is difficult to photograph the complete semi-circle of a rainbow in one frame, as this would require an angle of view of 84°. For a 35 mm camera, a lens with a focal length of 19 mm or less wide-angle lens would be required. Now that powerful software for stitching several images into a panorama is available, images of the entire arc and even secondary arcs can be created fairly easily from a series of overlapping frames. From an aeroplane, one has the opportunity to see the whole circle of the rainbow, with the plane’s shadow in the centre. This phenomenon can be confused with the glory, but a glory is usually much smaller, covering only 5°–20°.

Scientific explanation

The light is first refracted as it enters the surface of the raindrop, reflected off the back of the drop, and again refracted as it leaves the drop. The overall effect is that the incoming light is reflected back over a wide range of angles, with the most intense light at an angle of 40°–42°. The angle is independent of the size of the drop, but does depend on its refractive index. Seawater has a higher refractive index than rain water, so the radius of a ‘rainbow’ in sea spray is smaller than a true rainbow. This is visible to the naked eye by a misalignment of these bows.^[2] The amount by which light is refracted depends upon its wavelength, and hence its colour. Blue light (shorter wavelength) is refracted at a greater angle than red light, but due to the reflection of light rays from the back of the droplet, the blue light emerges from the droplet at a smaller angle to the original incident white light ray than the red light. You may then think it is strange that the pattern of colours in a rainbow has red on the outside of the arc and blue on the inside. However, when we examine this issue more closely, we realise that if the red light from one droplet is seen by an observer, then the blue light from that droplet will not be seen because it must be on a different path from the red light: a path which is not incident with the observer’s eyes. The blue light seen in this rainbow will therefore come from a different droplet, which must be below that whose red light can be observed.

Contrary to popular belief, the light at the back of the raindrop does not undergo total internal reflection, and some light does emerge from the back. However, light coming out the back of the raindrop does not create a rainbow between the observer and the sun because spectra emitted from the back of the raindrop do not have a maximum of intensity, as the other visible rainbows do, and thus the colours blend together rather than forming a rainbow.

Cili Padi / Labuyo Chili / Bird’s Eye Chili / Thai pepper

The hottest form is the bird’s eye chili pepper, which is also known as chili padi. This refers to the small size of the chili that reminds people about the small size of paddy (rice), the staple food in the region. It is also known as cili padi (Malay), cabe rawitIndonesian), phrik khii nuu (พริกขี้หนู, literally “mouse shit chili“), Thai hot, Thai dragon (due to its resemblance to claws), Siling Labuyo (Filipino), Ladâ, and boonie pepper (the Anglicized name). (

These tiny little fiery chilis point upward from the plant and their colors change directly from green to red. This type of chili can be found in Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, and the Philippines but most commonly in Thailand. Although small in size compared to other types of chili, the chili padi is relatively strong at 50,000 to 100,000 on the Scoville pungency scale. Malaysia consumes about RM140 million worth of chilies each year.^{[citation needed]}