Dakhan Small Branded Swift

Pelopidas mathias mathias (Fabricius, 1798)


Malayalam Name

:

ചെറുവരയൻ ശരശലഭം

Order

:

Lepidoptera

Family

:

Hesperiidae

Sub-family

:

Hesperiinae

Sub species

:

Pelopidas mathias mathias 

common names

:

 Dakhan Small Branded Swif

DISTRIBUTION Asia and Africa. Sub species found in India

STATUS: Common. Pest of Rice

HABITAT: 


HABITS

P. mathias is considered a pest to rice-growing cultures,Newly hatched caterpillars are especially voracious in eating young seedlings. They also use silken threads to roll up and stitch together partially eaten leaves for more efficient consumption

IDENTIFICATION  FEATURES

Male. Upperside olive brown: forewing with two small yellowish semi-transparent spots within end of cell, three before the apex, and in the male three oblique discal spots followed by a dark-bordered slender straight impressed glandular streak: hindwing with one or two very indistinct pale discal spots. Female with five discal spots in the forewing, and four or five in the hindwing. Underside paler; markings more distinct; hindwing also with a spot at upper end of the cell. Expanse 1.6 inch

SIMILAR SPECIES 


LARVAL HOST PLANTS
Axonopus compressus, Cymbopogon nardus (Paresh Churi pers. obs. 2016), Dinochloa andamanica, Imperata cylindrica, Oryza spp., Oryza sativa, Saccharum spp., Saccharum officinarum, Sorghum bicolor, Urochloa distachya, Urochloa mutica (=Brachiaria mutica), Urochloa setigera (Abhishek Rane pers. obs. 2023), Zea mays (Poaceae).

LIFE CYCLE

MORE IMAGES










Courtesy 

Write up:Wikipaedia
Images: TNHS & iFoundbutterfly.org

കേരള വനം വന്യജീവി വകുപ്പ്  
മാങ്കുളം ഡിവിഷൻ







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