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Half a century ago, Belgian Zoologist Bernard Heuvelmans first codified cryptozoology in his book On the Track of Unknown Animals.

The Centre for Fortean Zoology (CFZ) are still on the track, and have been since 1992. But as if chasing unknown animals wasn't enough, we are involved in education, conservation, and good old-fashioned natural history! We already have three journals, the largest cryptozoological publishing house in the world, CFZtv, and the largest cryptozoological conference in the English-speaking world, but in January 2009 someone suggested that we started a daily online magazine! The CFZ bloggo is a collaborative effort by a coalition of members, friends, and supporters of the CFZ, and covers all the subjects with which we deal, with a smattering of music, high strangeness and surreal humour to make up the mix.

It is edited by CFZ Director Jon Downes, and subbed by the lovely Lizzy Bitakara'mire (formerly Clancy), scourge of improper syntax. The daily newsblog is edited by Corinna Downes, head administratrix of the CFZ, and the indexing is done by Lee Canty and Kathy Imbriani. There is regular news from the CFZ Mystery Cat study group, and regular fortean bird news from 'The Watcher of the Skies'. Regular bloggers include Dr Karl Shuker, Dale Drinnon, Richard Muirhead and Richard Freeman.The CFZ bloggo is updated daily, and there's nothing quite like it anywhere else. Come and join us...

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Wednesday, November 14, 2012

CARL MARSHALL: Asian dragons at Butterfly Farm (well sort of!)


                                                                                                               
We at Stratford-upon-Avon Butterfly Farm are pleased to announce the emergence of the Green Dragontail Butterfly. The Dragontails - Lamproptera spp are a beautiful and unusual genus of Swallowtail butterflies (family-Papilionidae) found in South Asia and Southeast Asia. The genus is actually made up of two species, L. meges and L. curias  with the former taxon being divided up again into at least ten subspecies.

Having much smaller wing size to body length ratio, the Dragontail butterflies display an unusual whirring flight pattern when airborne, they rapidly beat their wings and dart back and forth in a manner similar to that of Dragonflies using their long tails as rudders.

In general the two species are not considered rare, however they now seem to be vulnerable in Peninsular Malaysia; apparently mainly due to localised habitat destruction. 

Dragontails are rather atypical when compared to normal Swallowtails in that they have such a small wingspan (about 50mm) and of course transparent wings - two features that are most unusual in Papilionidae butterflies. (This same family also houses the worlds largest butterfly Ornithoptera alexandrae with a massive wingspan of up to 30cm).

A specimen housed in Java seems to be the Holotype for the genus.

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