Laos - April 2025

[wollastoni]

I had the pleasure of spending two weeks in Laos with my French entomologist friends Steeve and Adrien, whom some of you may know, along with my colleague Ron, who specializes in Achillides. My main goal was to study the country's Delias populations. The trip was a great success. Laos is still a very wild country, with relatively little deforestation compared to neighboring Thailand. The people are very welcoming, the food is delicious, and the roads are terrible.

To share the beauty of the country, I will share a few photos. These are iPhone photos, so the quality is not great, but they will give you an idea. I will make a post for each location I studied.

[wollastoni]

Nam Kat Yorla Pa is a protected forest near Oudoumxai (North Laos). It is a middle-mountain area around the river "Kat". We studied mainly the area near the tourist resort between 700 and 900m. It is easy to reach by the new train built by China between Luang Prabang and Kunming.

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The river Nam Kat. Great spot to see a lot of common butterflies. Including Delias berinda yedanula, Delias acalis, Delias agostina & Delias pasithoe. A lot of common species Polyura, Kallima, Papilio...
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Preparing a moth session at the bottom of the mountain

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Papilio and Appias mud-puddling

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The team

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Polyura, Charaxes and Dysphania

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On the last day, I took a very steep path to reach a ridge at around 1,500 meters. At the summit, the vegetation is lower, with conifers. Unfortunately, there were no rare Delias, but the view was beautiful.

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Thauria lathyi

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Kallima inachus

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While in Nam Kat Yorla Pa, don't miss the Biodiversity Museum. The entomological part is curated by my friend Steeve.

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Nam Kat Yorla Pa is a wonderful place, easy to reach, very good resort. Mainly common species as it is rather low in altitude. We did find some interesting Coleoptera which could be new for science. You need authorizations to collect there (PM me for details).

[adamcotton]

along with my colleague Ron, who specializes in Achillidae.

I assume this is Ron L. from Switzerland, and you mean Achillides, the 'gloss Papilios'.

Adam.

[wollastoni]

Phou Samsoum is a 2,600-meter mountain in northeastern Laos on the border with Vietnam. It is very difficult to access (two days of terrible driving from Luang Prabang), but the forest is magnificent. There are several taxa endemic to this mountain. We found some beautiful things there. A herpetologist joined us and discovered a new species of frog. The weather, in the middle of the Annamite Range, is complicated, but we were lucky to have sunshine every morning.
A lot of interesting species including Delias lativitta, Delias belladonna, Limenitis rileyi ueharai. We were a bit early for Delias patrua.

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The road between Luang Praband and Phônsavan, a real nightmare, with dead trucks blocking it.
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The magnificent Phou Samsoum
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A good spot for Delias at 2,200m
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Another good spot for Delias at 2,200m

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Delias belladonna yukaae
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Cheirotonus gestroi
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A wonderful forest !
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Phou Samsoum is progressively transformed in a National Park. But wood traficking is still happening.

[mokky]

Thank you for sharing fantastic images of your latest Laos expedition. Laos remains good destination for insects in SE Asia. From Japan many enthusiasts are visiting there one after another. I have never been there but I would like to visit in the near future. During the monsoon, Phou Samsoum is blessed with many rare and interesting species which are univoltine however the weather is a huge headache.

[Trehopr1]

Wonderful pictures and I am sure a memorable experience indeed ! Thank you so much for posting.

[adamcotton]

During the monsoon, Phou Samsoum is blessed with many rare and interesting species which are univoltine however the weather is a huge headache.

I suppose that Zephyrus group of Lycaenidae must be interesting to Japanese collectors.

Adam.

[wollastoni]

It is a pleasure to share.

Indeed Phou Samsoum is rich in endemic "Zephyrus". I caught a few of them for a friend who study them.

[kevinkk]

Yes, thank you for posting and sharing the experience. I can live vicariously.

[mokky]

It is a pleasure to share.

Indeed Phou Samsoum is rich in endemic "Zephyrus". I caught a few of them for a friend who study them.

Wow, I would like to know which species you collected there. I am interested in this lovely Lycaenidae. If you know anyone who shares same passion as me, please introduce those friednds to me!

[livingplanet3]

Many thanks for posting; wonderful photos!

[wollastoni]

Our harvests on Phou Samsoum were excellent, but we hadn't found Papilio arcturus in our biotopes for Delias at 2,200 meters. Unlike Delias, which likes small rivers in my beautiful forests, Papilio arcturus is a summit species. So we decided to explore a ridge located a little before Phou Samsoum. The ridge was at 2000m.

I wasn't very confident because the entire climb to the ridge was through an area that had been burned and repopulated by ferns. I doubted we would find anything interesting at the top. There were no real paths, and the area was still full of US bombs. But let's go!

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And once we reached the summit... a beautiful view and lots of arcturus flying around!

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With four nets, we caught a nice series for Ron, including this superb female.

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And to top it all off, we also spotted two Teinopalpus imperialis. I'll post a photo I found online because mine is terrible. As the species is protected (even though it is found on many peaks in Indochina), we left it where it was. It was a great joy to see this legendary species. We saw it very close up because the males were perched on a small tree 2.5 meters high on the ridge.



What a memorable day!

[Paul K]

Papilio arcturus can also be found at mountain streams mud puddling. But it is hard to find the right spot, they can be at one stream but not at the other just few hundred meters away although same approach has been taken ( urine bate in this case )

[wollastoni]

I guess, but we haven't seen any near streams during the 4 days on Phou Samsoum. Very few butterflies mud-puddling there versus lower altitudes spots.

It was fun to see them flying and net them. There were about 20 on them on a small ridge. One strong male was defending the best tree and attacking all males passing on the ridge. They fly rather fast and high so it was a fun "hunt".

[wollastoni]

It takes 2 days to get back from Phou Samsoum to Luang Prabang, but we had planned for 3 days so as not to miss our return flight in case of a problem on the road (blocked road, accident...). As the return trip took 2 days, we had one day free, so we went hunting in the forest above the Kuang Si waterfalls (a pretty, very touristy waterfall south-west of Luang Prabang).

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The forest is beautiful, but as we're at low altitude, the species are common.
It was a pleasant day, even if we weren't used to the heat after a week at altitude.

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Nice groups of Appias, common Papilios mud-puddling and Lamproptera meges (not my pictures for these).

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This marked the end of a wonderful 2-week stay in Laos. A magnificent country with very welcoming people. The absence of mass tourism in Laos (there's no sea) means that the country is still authentic and lacks many of the shortcomings of mass tourism. I invite you all to visit this beautiful country. The mountains are difficult to get to, but well worth the effort for the bravest among you. Wonderful memories.

I hope this report has inspired you to plan your next expedition, wherever that may be!

[adamcotton]

Olivier,

Thank you very much for posting all the photos and narrating your adventures. I agree, Laos is a really interesting country and I would strongly encourage anyone to go there. If you want to see very many (mostly) commoner species mud-puddling along streams in lower elevation forest I recommend going at the end of February and early March. It is not as hot then as in April, and the spring flight is at its peak with most univoltine Papilionidae also flying then.

By the way, if you look carefully you can see there is a Graphium macareus indochinensis mud-puddling with the upper of the two Papilio helenus above.

Adam.

[wollastoni]

Wow, I would like to know which species you collected there. I am interested in this lovely Lycaenidae. If you know anyone who shares same passion as me, please introduce those friednds to me!

I will send you my friends' contact by PM. He will get my Laotian specimens in end-September only as we will meet in Juvisy fair.