Cat Tien National Park

Insects and other invertebrates

As is often the case, butterflies (Lepidoptera) are the best recorded order of insects.

A 'butterfly lick', shown here, is a common sight in the Park.

There are various species here - including at least 2 genera of yellow butterflies: Eurema & Ixias (Pieridae)

Cyrestis nivea

Vindula dejone

    Click here - for a list of
  butterflies found in the Park
   - prepared by staff and academic visitors.

Lexias dirtea

Recommended References

Corbet & Pendlebury Butterflies of the Malay peninsula

Monastyrskii & Devyatkin, Common butterflies of Vietnam

Viet Nam insect pictures - click here or Richard Seaman's site

Other Insect Orders - all pictures taken in the Park

Odonata

Orthoptera

Dermaptera

Dictyoptera

Mantodea

   Blattaria

Isoptera



Phasmida



Hemiptera

Coleoptera

The eminent biologist JBS Haldane once notoriously said of the Coleoptera that "one thing we know about the divine creator is an inordinate fondness for beetles". It is by far the largest insect order accounting for 40% of insects and 25% of all animals. In more than 160 families, there are more than 300,000 known species, but there are almost certainly hundreds of thousands more that are yet to be described. It is also almost certain that there are hundreds of species new to science, within the Park boundaries.

There are two major sub-orders:

Adephaga: that include the Family Carabidae: the ground beetles & tiger beetles (shown right)

Polyphaga: a large and diverse group with 155 Families ...

Hymenoptera



Diptera



See more on the ecology page ...

Other Arthropods

Funnel web spiders can often be found on the forest floor - especially during the dry season.

Above: a harvestman (left) and a spider that has captured a cicada (right). Millipedes are a common sight - they have 2 pairs of legs per 'segment' - which distinguishes them from centipedes, such as this long legged specimen on the right.

Reptiles &
amphibians

updated: 10 April 2011

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