Brown Skippers ID.

[Sailfish]

Hi Dr Seow or any experts,
Need some help for the id of these brown skippers.
Thanks.
:cheers:

[Psyche]

1. Fullstop Swift Caltoris cormasa.
Deep reddish brown colouration of the hindwing.
(Correction: probably a male Caltoris bromus.)

2. Pugnacious Lancer female Pemara pugnans.
Above the single subapical spot (in space 6) there are always some black spots/marks.

3. Paintbrush Swift female Baoris oceia.
At first sight resembles the Great Swift, but there are no spot on the hindwing.
The banded abdomen indicates it is Baoris.
There are only 2 subapical spots (in space 6 & 7), the uppermost in space 8 is missing.
Since the female of B. farri is stated to be always fully spotted, this has to be B. oceia.

TL Seow:cheers:
PS. Will need to check no. 3 again.
A number of things are not quite right.
1. The spots are large & the 2 subapical spots are in line,while the upper cell spot is quadrate (both not usual for Baoris).
2. The white patch of the antenna is a tad too prominent (vague or brownish in Baoris).
3. The face (palpi 2nd segment around the eyes) appeared a tad too white.

They may all be just individual variations, but it gets pretty confusing.

[Psyche]

1. This is more likely C. bromus male.
The colouration is rather deceptive.
The contrast between the forewing & hindwing is poor not withstanding this is a worn individual where the forewing would tends to wear greyish.
The upper cellspot on the forewing is oblong & rather large.
The antenna has a distinct pale whitish patch.

Two examples of C. cormasa male & female showing the following features.
1. There is a sharp contrast between the darker hindwing & the forewing.
2. The upper cellspot is a tiny white dot (it may be absent.)
3. The antennal shaft is pale brownish below the club.
http://www.rainbowlodgecambodia.com/butterflies/pics/unknown/img_2012_09_25_004338.jpg
http://www.butterflycircle.com/checklist%20V2/CI/mugshots/Caltoris%20cormasa/283%20Caltoris%20cormasa%20Bobby%20Mun.jpg


3. More typical B. oceia female for comparison.
http://www.samuibutterflies.com/02_images/linkbuttons/butterflies/hesperidae/baorisoceia/underside.jpg

Examples of C. bromus females for comparison.
http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?hl=en&sa=X&tbo=d&biw=1280&bih=595&tbm=isch&tbnid=r6e2lVqKJxFlqM:&imgrefurl=http://peacockroyal.blogspot.com/2012/12/from-dairy-farm-park-to-mandai-park.html&docid=SHtoSEXylBfw1M&imgurl=http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7l1dr3n_gKc/UNkf7-O6cQI/AAAAAAAAIJg/leZVbtGOi8k/s1600/DFP%252B2252%252BCaltoris%252Bbromus.jpg&w=660&h=440&ei=hioLUd-8I4LllAWHw4HwAg&zoom=1&ved=1t:3588,r:12,s:0,i:118&iact=rc&dur=929&sig=117957866331749037376&page=1&tbnh=177&tbnw=256&start=0&ndsp=15&tx=198&ty=68
http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?hl=en&sa=X&tbo=d&biw=1280&bih=595&tbm=isch&tbnid=U1dGMwUiwBDRVM:&imgrefurl=http://www.flickr.com/photos/lemonteayk/page57/&docid=UpSYvOVVi0alOM&itg=1&imgurl=http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7269/7493959598_50757121b5_m.jpg&w=240&h=179&ei=hioLUd-8I4LllAWHw4HwAg&zoom=1&ved=1t:3588,r:19,s:0,i:139&iact=rc&dur=2209&sig=117957866331749037376&page=2&tbnh=185&tbnw=260&start=15&ndsp=22&tx=152&ty=62
And a male bromus.
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d156/Schir/Share/Sunny-Chir-1D3--28_07_2012---7140.jpg

TL Seow:cheers:

[Psyche]

Final Conclusion.

After looking through various images no. 1 should be Caltoris bromus.

Here are 2 more images of C. cormasa.
Note very dark redbrown hindwing often with a purplish wash.
The forewing upper cellspot is either tiny or absent thus leaving only a single lower larger cellspot -and so Fullstop Swift.
http://dashwolfe.smugmug.com/ButterfliesOfSingapore/Hesperiidae/i-b4S7VMW/0/L/DPP_1259-L.jpg
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_0EK80AsaR7g/SXxppMm-U0I/AAAAAAAAARQ/mv3fzR0dw2c/s400/DSC_0170+Caltoris+sp.jpg

3. likely female Baoris oceia.
There are only 2 species of Baoris in Singapore.
I expect the female B. farri to have 3 subapical spots & a lighter brown underside.

TL Seow:cheers:

[Sailfish]

Thanks Dr Seow for the ID. C. bromus is a +1 for me.

:cheers:

[Commander]

Congrats on nailing the Pugnacious Lancer. It's been a long time since I've seen one and it made regular appearances at Mandai Orchid Garden, which is now gone. :-(

[Sailfish]

Thanks Khew.

:cheers:

[Psyche]

No. 1 still bugs me because the hindwing is rather redbrown & it looks too similar to C. cormasa not withstanding what have been said about the size of the spot & the antennal colour.
1. The size of the upper cellspot is within the variation of C. cormasa.
2. The brownish shaft of the antenna in C. cormasa is from the lower half (underside) of the shaft & this view is somewhat from above.

Here is another correct male C. bromus from KPN.
http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/m572/angiud/UnidHesperiidae2.jpg

However I will leave it tentatively as C. bromus.

What I really wanted to post was this female by Federick IDed previously as C. bromus .
The hindwing colouration was so unusual, a chocolate brown that I had to check it up.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7l1dr3n_gKc/UNkf7-O6cQI/AAAAAAAAIJg/leZVbtGOi8k/s1600/DFP+2252+Caltoris+bromus.jpg

Taiwan have only 2 Caltoris ie bromus & cahira.
These 2 fresh examples of female C. cahira austeni (same ssp. as here) are an almost perfect match.
Note chocolate brown hindwing & dark grey- brown body hairs.
http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4104/5167046498_41e1851852_z.jpg
http://farm9.static.flickr.com/8170/7969810082_4448f3ce8b.jpg

A female C. bromus from KPN.
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6105/6328635820_1541741e39.jpg

TL Seow:cheers:

[Psyche]

No. 3 appeared to be wrong.
All the objections I raised against Baoris appeared valid, ie.

1. The 2 subapical spots in space 6 & 7 are large & in line.
I have seen no Baoris with the 2 spots in line.

2. The upper cell spot is large & quadrate.
Again not seen any quite like this.

3. The whitish patch on the antenna is too prominent.
Always vague or obsolete in Baoris, but somewhat prominent in Caltoris.

4. The banded abdomen is also seen in old Caltoris individuals where scale loss along the intersegmental lines gives it a broadly banded look.

No. 3 appeared to be correctly a worn female Caltoris cahira austeni.
Here is a very good match from Taiwan.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7097/7386415714_3e8ee7e63e_z.jpg
The shape of the spots in the female C. cahira.
http://image.digitalarchives.tw/ImageCache/00/5d/af/66.jpg

The male C. cahira(Taiwan). This has probably been misID'ed as a browner C. bromus in the past.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3089/2623365417_db0123a1b8.jpg

TL Seow:cheers:

[Sailfish]

Thank you Dr Seow again for the analysis of these confusing species.

Really appreciate your efforts.

:cheers:

[Sailfish]

Hi Dr Seow,
Here is another batch of brown skippers which I took recently. Appreciate your ID and confirmation.

no.4-no idea?; 5-caltoris?; 6-Baoris?; 7-Another Caltoris?

Thanks.
:cheers:

[Psyche]

4. Caltoris philippina male.
This is easy enough. Note sharper forewing than other species.
Body hairs greenish; the ochreous scalings on the hindwing strongly green-tinged.

5. Most likely Caltoris bromus female.
Note colour tone of the forewing & hindwing about the same, although it is somewhat reddish.
In C. cormasa the hindwing is much darker as here in the same lighting condition. (colour not red enough in this old pic.)
http://www.natureloveyou.sg/Minibeast-Butterfly/Skipper_Caltoris%20cormasa/DSC01523%20(11).jpg

6. Baoris oceia male.
Typically the hindwing is dark brown with a purple tinge.
Note pale patch on antenna very vaque.
The upper cellspot is often flattened & crescentic as here.
The abdomen have narrow tiger stripes.

The hindwing colouration would be the same as Caltoris brunnea which I suspect is likely to be present in Singapore.
Its underside is deep purplebrown, but the cell spot is not flattened & the white patch on the antenna conspicuous.
This is an old faded specimen.
http://www.neutron.phys.ethz.ch/Lepidoptera/Hesperiidae/IMG_1685.JPG

7. This is the same female of the suspected Caltoris cahira.
Note deep dark brown colour, the large in-line subapical spots (?always 2) & the large upper cellspot which is partially hidden.
I will need to see a pristine male to confirm this species.

TL Seow:cheers:

[Sailfish]

Thanks Dr Seow for the ID. The two Caltoris cahira are from two different individuals.

:cheers:

[Psyche]

Thanks Dr Seow for the ID. The two Caltoris cahira are from two different individuals.

:cheers:

My mistake.
I had meant to state the same suspected C. cahira, not the same individual.

TL Seow:cheers: