Dispar
The Online Journal of Lepidoptera
ISSN 2056-9246
The Online Journal of Lepidoptera
ISSN 2056-9246
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by Jason Mann.
A Naturalist's Guide to the Butterflies of Hong Kong is a photographic identification guide to 235 butterfly species found in Hong Kong (99.9% coverage), and is perfect for resident and visitor alike. There is much to enjoy, whether an armchair reader, casual hiker or long-time expert. The swallowtails of Hong Kong, for example, are widespread and spectacular. With more than 20 species, Hong Kong offers more variety of these butterflies than any major city in the world. Even the creator of James Bond was impressed by the remarkable butterflies of the Fragrant Harbour. This book combines high quality photographs from a broad swath of Hong Kong's top photographers with detailed species descriptions. The text cuts through jargon, allowing readers to quickly distinguish different butterflies and see how each fits in the broader context. Local range, abundance and seasonality notes make it much easier to find a wide range of butterflies and, in the process, to see more of Hong Kong. The user-friendly introduction covers the origins of butterflies, their physical characteristics, butterfly family trees and behaviour. Also included is an all-important checklist of the butterflies of Hong Kong encompassing, for each species, its common English, Chinese and scientific name, and status in Hong Kong.
If, like me, you had always thought of Hong Kong as a densely populated, urban financial hub and quickly dismissed it as a potential destination for a keen butterfly-watcher, then think again. It is indeed all those things but is also, as this little book reveals, a lepidopterist's paradise. No fewer than 235 species of butterfly populate its 2,755 km2 of city and natural parkland. To put this in perspective, it represents four times as many species as can be found in the United Kingdom in less than 1% of the area. The number includes 21 swallowtails - the highest number of any major city in the world - and in total constitutes 11% of the butterflies of the whole of China. If your mission is to acquaint yourself with South-East Asian butterflies, Hong Kong suddenly seems like the place to go!
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Exceptionally for the Naturalist's Guide series, The Butterflies of Hong Kong describes and illustrates all these 235 species, as well as listing 28 further vagrant species that have been reported very rarely. Species accounts are necessarily brief but they cover all the essentials, including a description of the adult, an indication of the butterfly's local and global distribution, an account of its habitat, behaviour and larval foodplants and last but not least, one to four (typically two or three) excellent colour photographs. The pictures cannot hope to show all a species' seasonal, sexual and other forms but they show enough to narrow down even difficult butterflies to a couple of options, which a quick internet image search should easily resolve. Given a good enough view, any butterfly seen in Hong Kong should be identifiable.
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The bulk of the book is taken up with the species accounts and it is obviously for these that most people will buy it. Nevertheless, the obligatory, short introduction is well thought-out and worth reading. In a few pages, it not only presents butterflies and their biology but sets enjoyment of them in a broader, human context. You will even perform better professionally if you regularly take time out to commune with nature, says the author. I wholeheartedly agree! The introduction concludes with a summary of the particularities of butterflies in Hong Kong and the book itself closes with a complete checklist, including the English, Latin and Chinese names of each species and an indication of its status in Hong Hong.
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Unsurprisingly, given the history of Hong Kong, this is not the only English-language guide to the region's butterflies. It is, however, the most up-to-date, and in terms of its species coverage, the most comprehensive. It is also very much a field guide, being small and light enough to stick in your backpack (or even handbag) without weighing you down. I congratulate Jason Mann on a job well done and give this volume my unqualified recommendation.