Skipper Shots in 2012

[Peacock Royal]

First two shots for the year 2012 - both taken in Ubin.

1 and 2 : Potanthus species, juno ? - my head spins when I look at the underside shot
3. : I think it is a Caltoris cormasa or C. malaya ??

[Psyche]

1 & 2 are P. omaha. Note distinct darkened veins in both upper/undersides.
There are 3 subapical spots.

3 have a rich ochreous brown underside & should be the female of C. malaya.
It looks like there is a paleness to the antennal shaft behind the club after all.
http://www.butterflycircle.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12278

TL Seow:cheers:

[Peacock Royal]

Thanks Seow.

At least half a dozen orange skippers zipping around and feeding on the Bidens flowers at one particular loation.
1. Common Palm Dart (Telicota colon stinga) ?
2. Large Dart (Potanthus serina) ? - it is definitely bigger than the P. omaha
3. Large Dart (Potanthus serina) ??
4. A "chubby-looking" orange skipper - another [I]Potanthus ?

[Blue Jay]

Great shots, Uncle Federick. #2 and #4 looks really odd to me because of the marginal(?) band which is curved inwards.:hmmm:

[Psyche]

1 should be T. besta male. Hindwing veins lightly darkened; forewing spot 4 & 5 rectangular & overlaps spot 3 by half.

2 is probably correct ie. P. serina female. veins lightly darkened; forewing spot 5 should be distinctly shorter than spot 4.(just noticeable.)

3 is probably P. juno male. Veins hardly darkened ; note shape of spot 8.

4 is probably P. ganda female. Veins not darkened ; subapical spots normal; dark ground on hindwing.( strong overlaps between spot 5 & 6 also suggest P. confucius.)

TL Seow:cheers:

[Peacock Royal]

Thanks Seow

1. Telicota besta bina (Besta Palm Dart) ?
2 and 3 : Iambrix stellifer (Starry Bob)

[Psyche]

T. besta is correct.
The only other male (apart from the montane hilda) with darkened veins is T. colon which have spot 4 & 5 misshapened with strongly concaved margins.

TL Seow:cheers:

[Peacock Royal]

Thanks Seow
Shot this mating pair at LT this morning.
The veins are slightly darken, not sure if this is P. juno or P. omaha or something else ?

[Psyche]

Here is confirmation of Potanthus ganda.

The underside shot shows the veins to be barely or hardly darkened.
The upperside hindwing have the veins barely darkened and not through & through as in omaha.
P. omaha is at once discounted.
P. juno is ruled out as its subapical spot in space 8 is much reduced or absent above & below.
P. mingo is out as its hindwing band have a dark strongly zigzag margin.
P. confucius is discounted as its upperside spots are interconnected & have strongly concave margins.

This mating pair should kept as a reference for the identification of P. ganda.

TL Seow:cheers:

[Commander]

Thanks for the voucher specimens, Fed. Will be keeping them for future reference material. :thumbsup:

[Peacock Royal]

1. Potanthus ganda ?
2. Another Potanthus species at a different liocation from #1
3. Polytremis lubricans lubricans (Contiguous Swift) ?
4. Pemara pugnans (Pugnacious Lancer) ?
5. Ancistroides nigrita maura (Chocolate Demon)

[Psyche]

The great difficulty with worn individuals is judging whether the veins are darkened consistently.
1 & 2 should be the male and female of Potanthus ganda.

3 & 4 should be the male & female of Polytremis lubricans.
The colouration & antennae & forewing spotting matched.
Spots on the hindwing are variable & may be difficult to see.

TL Seow:cheers:

[Peacock Royal]

Thanks Seow

1 and 2 : Telicota colon stinga (Common Palm Dart) ?
3. Potanthus trachala tytleri (Detached Dart)
4. Potanthus ganda ?

[Psyche]

I supposed 1& 2 are the same individual.T. colon.
The upperside is readiliy identifiable by the long vein-stripes.
On the underside there is little overlap between spot 3 & 4 so that the 'band' appeared to be slanted. Hindwing veins may or may not be lightly darkened.

2 is correct.

3 is Potanthus omaha.All veins are darkened.

TL Seow:cheers:

[Peacock Royal]

Thanks Seow.

A few more shots.

1. Mating Potanthus- look like P. omaha
2. Pseudocoladenia dan dhyana (Fulvous Pied Flat)
3. Borbo cinnara cinnara (Formosan Swift) ?
4. Plastingia pellonia (Yellow Chequered Lancer)
5, Telicota besta bina (Besta Palm Dart) = to be confirmed

[Psyche]

1 is correct.
3 is female Polytremis lubricans.(large upper cellspot; ochreous brown underside; note Borbo have greenish ochre underside.)

TL Seow:cheers:

[moloch]

Good shots, Federick. There are so many skippers in Singapore and Malaysia! The diversity is staggering.

Regards,

[atronox]

Haven't seen the yellow checquered lancer for a while:)

[Peacock Royal]

Shot at Mandai Track 15
1. Not sure which Telicota sp - Telicota augias or Telicota linna ?
2. Potanthus trachala tytleri (Detached Dart)
3. Potanthus omaha omaha (Lesser Dart)

[Psyche]

1 is most likely T. linna male.
The dark marks on the hindwing in T. augias is rather light & poor, and the overlap between spot 3 & 4 is usually much more.

TL Seow:cheers:

[Peacock Royal]

A few skippers taken in the past few weeks.

1. Potanthus ganda ?
2 and 3. Another Potanthus ganda and its uppersides
4. Polytremis lubricans lubricans (Contiguous Swift) ?
5. Quedara monteithi monteithi \
6. Quedara monteithi monteithi - male ? (Shot at the same location as #5)

[Psyche]

1. Potanthus omaha. Veins lightly but distinctly darkened.

2&3 P. omaha. Veins lightly although less distinctly darkened; upperside hindwing veins distinctly darkened.

The rest are correct.

TL Seow:cheers:

[Peacock Royal]

Thanks Seow
A few shots taken this morning at USR.

1. Plastingia naga (Chequered Lancer)
2. Iambrix salsala salsala (Chestnut Bob)
3. Pelopidas mathias mathias (Small Branded Swift)
4. ???

[Blue Jay]

4: A wild guess- very worn Spotted Flitter?:hmmm:

[Psyche]

4: A wild guess- very worn Spotted Flitter?:hmmm:

An excellent guess, nevertheless. Well done Brian.

TL Seow:cheers:

[Peacock Royal]

1. Erionota torus ? - shot this deep in the forest.
2. Does not look like the Pelopidas mathias mathias (Small Branded Swift) Is this Borbo cinnara cinnara (Formosan Swift) ?
3. Not sure - I guess it may be a male Telicota augias augias (Palm Dart)
4 and 5. Potanthus omaha omaha (Lesser Dart)
6. Polytremis lubricans lubricans (Contiguous Swift)

[Psyche]

Post 26.

1. Erionota hiraca apicalis.(hindwing band irregular & narrow; underside forewing apex whitish area cut across from costa to termen; upperside extensive white.
In E. torus/thrax, the hindwing band is broad; the apex white is only on the costal side. Upperside E. torus no white; E. thrax termen margin narrowly white.

2 Borbo cinnara is correct. no cellspot; typical spot 2 ,3, & 6, greenish ochre ground colour.

3. Telicota linna or augias. A fuller view of the underside forewing can confirm ID.
T. augias male: hindwing band same as ground colour so no contrast & the band is only marked by poor black spots.
Here there is a contrast with the ground colour yellower & the spots darker.
On these basis I think it is T. linna male.
(Correction: On checking again it should be T. augias male. The degree of black spotting is variable in augias; in linna the costal & basal parts of the hindwing have a darker shading.)

4 & 5 Note the male of P. omaha often have the veins on the upperside of hindwing less distinctly darkened.
Are 4 & 5 the same butt. ? The leaves they are on are different.
If they are different, 5 could be P. ganda.
(On reflection, even if they are different, 5 is P. omaha. It just that these variations start putting doubts in your mind.)


TL Seow:cheers:

[Peacock Royal]

Sorry for the late reply, yes #4 and #5 in post 26 are the same individual

First 6 shots taken at Mandai Park Connector.
1. Polytremis lubricans lubricans (Contiguous Swift) Male
2 and 3 : same specimen : Potanthus trachala tytleri (Detached Dart)
4 and 5 : smae specimen : Which Telicota species ?
6. Pelopidas mathias mathias (Small Branded Swift)
7. Perhaps another Potanthus trachala tytleri (Detached Dart) -taken at Ubin

[Psyche]

1. should be Borbo cinnara.
Typical spots in space 2, 3, 6. Colouration incorrect. ? WB setting.
In P. lubricans spots in space 4 & 5 most prominent; colour deeper brown.

$ & 5 Telicota colon.
Long vein-streaks; odd shaped spots 4 & 5.

The rest are correct.

TL Seow:cheers:

[Peacock Royal]

Thanks Dr Seow. Three more shots need your help and confirmation.
1. Caltoris sp ?
2. Potanthus sp ?
3. Polytremis lubricants lubricants ?

[Psyche]

Post 30.

1. P. lubricans . There are hyaline spot in space 2, 4, & 5 on the hindwing.

2. Not sure. Veins faintly or hardly darkened.
Looks like P. omaha with much reduced melanin or black pigment.

3 is correct.

TL Seow:cheers:
PS. There is a dart found from India to China & down to southern Thailand called the Pallid Dart, P. pallidus.
Always a possibility.

[Peacock Royal]

Post 30.

2. Not sure. Veins faintly or hardly darkened.
Looks like P. omaha with much reduced melanin or black pigment.

TL Seow:cheers:
PS. There is a dart found from India to China & down to southern Thailand called the Pallid Dart, P. pallidus.
Always a possibility.

Dr Seow
I am quite sure it is not likely to be P. omaha for two reasons : the size is much bigger than P. omaha and it does not have the habit of landing with open wings under morning sun as shown by P. omaha.
It was found at Bukit Brown and here is another shot.

[Peacock Royal]

Here is another Potanthus species shot at Bukit Brown.
This is quite small and took off after this shot - it ooks like P. omaha to me ?

[Psyche]

The 2nd small one (post 33) should be P. ganda female.
The veins are just faintly darkened on both wings, & the dark shadings of both wings matched that of ganda.

The big one is the problem.
All the omaha size species can be discounted.

Of the big ones serina & trachala are easily eliminated.
P. palnia have detached spot 4 & 5 as in trachala.
P. lydia is a montane species.
P. pamela have no spot 7 on the underside.
P. rectifasciatus have a rather straight forewing band.
P. flavus have a dark contrasted underside.

This leaves P. pava.

Points in favour of P. pava.
It is yellower,sometimes called Yellow Dart.
It is a secondary growth spp, sometimes common in parts of Asia.(only north in Malaya).
Hindwing spot 6 variable in size.
Forewing band tend to be continuously joined.

Being a secondary growth spp. it could have made its way here thru imported plants.
However, this one doesn't quite resembles the typical form of P. pava.
http://old.hkbutterfly.org/images/Potanthus_pava.jpg

TL Seow:cheers:
PS. A female P. omaha to compare with post 33.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DaXbrMj8OB4/TxlTMTF-FxI/AAAAAAAAFTg/WheuP9v6Uzc/s1600/DSC3988-Potanthus%2BSarina.jpg

[Psyche]

Federick, I think you have the size mixup.
Here is P. confucius on the same Asystasia flower, so it would be of the same size.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-B2W0fVicLAM/TlfLl8yaSSI/AAAAAAAAEq4/2t883dpTHBk/s400/DSC1958-Potanthus-confucius.jpg

It is P. ganda male.
Here is your pix of upper & underside from USR, March 19,2012.
Veins not darkened upperside hindwing, & underside.
Upperside forewing as in P. omaha.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-E9Ub-n3Y78E/T2PSF9UUi2I/AAAAAAAAFlw/DulighSMPtE/s1600/4702%2BPotanthus-sp.jpg
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2xDXSOZn5HY/T2PR8QEG1CI/AAAAAAAAFlk/Ye0ozQt-HqE/s1600/4694%2BPotanthus-sp.jpg

TL Seow:cheers:

[Peacock Royal]

Federick, I think you have the size mixup.
Here is P. confucius on the same Asystasia flower, so it would be of the same size.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-B2W0fVicLAM/TlfLl8yaSSI/AAAAAAAAEq4/2t883dpTHBk/s400/DSC1958-Potanthus-confucius.jpg

It is P. ganda male.
Here is your pix of upper & underside from USR, March 19,2012.
Veins not darkened upperside hindwing, & underside.
Upperside forewing as in P. omaha.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-E9Ub-n3Y78E/T2PSF9UUi2I/AAAAAAAAFlw/DulighSMPtE/s1600/4702%2BPotanthus-sp.jpg
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2xDXSOZn5HY/T2PR8QEG1CI/AAAAAAAAFlk/Ye0ozQt-HqE/s1600/4694%2BPotanthus-sp.jpg

TL Seow:cheers:

Dr Seow
The Potanthus skippper in Post 32 (shot at 09:31 am ) and #2 skipper in post 30 (shot at 09:32 am) were the same individual.
The skipper in post 33 was a different specimen and it was shot at 09:24 am at a nearby location.

[Psyche]

Dr Seow
The Potanthus skippper in Post 32 (shot at 09:31 am ) and #2 skipper in post 30 (shot at 09:32 am) were the same individual.
The skipper in post 33 was a different specimen and it was shot at 09:24 am at a nearby location.

Yes. I was referring to the same skipper in post 30 & 31.
Judging from the relationship to the size of the Asystasia flower. it is about the same size of P. confucius on the same type of flower.

P. ganda is about the same or a little bigger than omaha.
Fleming gave omaha FL 12mm. ; ganda FL 12/13 mm.; confucius FL 13/14mm.

TL Seow:cheers: