Help with Hesperiid (Telicota?) please

[MrGee]

Hi,

I spotted this one a while back at my home in the South Cardamom foothills of Cambodia. I have not been able to identify (even with the help of Les).

http://www.rainbowlodgecambodia.com/butterflies/pics/unknown/img_2012_04_25_001197.jpg

http://www.rainbowlodgecambodia.com/butterflies/pics/unknown/img_2012_04_25_001196.jpg

http://www.rainbowlodgecambodia.com/butterflies/pics/unknown/img_2012_04_25_001199.jpg

Unfortunately, the shots are not great. Any help with ID greatly appreciated.

[Psyche]

One reason why I am not trying to ID skippers from too far north is not knowing the local species.
This Telicota is within striking range, however.

Salient features.
1 Male , hindwing veins distinctly darkened.
2. Base of space 2 not orange. ( this patch is mirrored on the underside of the forewing, so it is very useful.)

These two combination of features immediately rule out quite a large nos. of species.
They are T.augias, colon, linna, ancilla (=bambusae), ohara, besta.

In fact it fits T. hilda well, but I don't think it is found in your area.

TL Seow:cheers:

[MrGee]

Thank you Seow.

I have no idea. I normally use Yutaka's site for distribution details but, unfortunately, there are no details for any of the Telicota species.

[Psyche]

I did a check with funet & Yutaka.
There is only one Telicota left & it is T. hilda.

I am pretty confident this is T. hilda male because it fits the description well.
Note.
1. Male with underside hindwing veins darkened.
2. Forewing without an orange patch at the base of space 2 (as seen on the underside.)
3. Underside with fuscous scalings.

TL Seow:cheers:

[MrGee]

Thank you :)

[Psyche]

After looking through some Telicotas I realised There is a need for a recheck here.

What applies to one region often is invalid to another.
A case in point is whether the veins are darkened over the hindwing band.

Pic 3 is a red herring as it appeared to show a lot of darker brown shading.

This HK T ohara also have darkened veins.
http://old.hkbutterfly.org/images/Telicota_ohara.jpg
Likewise this Taiwanese example of ohara formosana (with upperside confirmation).
http://digimuse.nmns.edu.tw/DigiMuse/XML/files/000001/80/41/bc/090000018041bc22_pl.jpg
In both cases the shape of spot 4 & 5 on the forewing with dark edgings ruled out T. ohara from your pic.
( T. ohara often have dark shadings. It is necessary to rule out this spp.)

T. bambusae is a common species in your area and this is a match.

Although the key of C&P4 states in line 9 that bambusae (& linna) do not have the veins darkened this is not always so.

Here is T. bambusae horisha from Taiwan (only 3 spp. there, the other 2 are colon & ohara.)
The veins are lightly darkened. This image have upperside confirmation.
http://image.digitalarchives.tw/ImageCache/00/55/d4/3f.jpg

This is Telicota bambusae bambusae from India, the same ssp. as in your area.
Note spot 4 & 5 do not have dark notches & the hindwing veins are darkened.
http://www.flutters.org/home/photogallery/plog-content/images/butterfliesbrnbspnbspnbsphesperiidae-the-skippers-br/skippers---hesperiidae/dark-palm-dart__telicota-ancilla_ashish-tiple.jpg (Corrected image.)

I need to be careful of using the words ' pretty confident.':embrass:

T. bambusae is called the Dark Palm Dart, but I think this is from when it was placed as a synonym of the Ausstralian T. ancilla.

TL Seow:cheers:
PS T. bambusae horisha from Taiwan in which the veins on the hindwing are not darkened. (With only 3 species, namely colon, ohara, & bambusae, these can not be anything else.)
Male
http://us.123rf.com/400wm/400/400/edison0912/edison09121204/edison0912120400046/13242265-hesperiidae-telicota-bambusae-horisha.jpg
Female
http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6198/6060805717_248ecb238d_b.jpg

[MrGee]

Thank you for checking this and going to the trouble of updating. I will change the ID of this to Telicota bambusae bambusae in my list?