UFO skipper

[Banded Yeoman]

One strange skipper from USR today.

Does not look like anything in the book.

Here it is :


?????? by bluebottlethejon, on Flickr

[Blue Jay]

could me species #302 of the SG checklist!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Psyche]

You have a pristine Small Branded Swift.

Lighting condition always seems to affect the small butterflies, shifting their colour between purplish-grey and brown.

TL Seow

[Banded Yeoman]

Thats strange.

The butt was grey even in the sun, and this one has 7 spots on the hindwing.

I checked the other shots of small branded swift, and they all have at most 5 spots on the hindwing. The post discal ones ( first four from bottom ) are alighned in a straight line. Unlike usual SBS.

Also, the spots on the forewing are much larger, more squarish and similar sized compared to all the other SBS. These spots should not be so alighned if it were to be SBS.

Is the SBS very variable? It still seems to me that it is not SBS?

[Psyche]

Oops ! my mistake here.

This must be a very large skipper. It is a Pelopidas species. It is dark and it have white-banded antennae.
So, it should be the Great Swift.

I normally presumed if you see a large skipper with spots you would know where to look.

All Pelopidas skippers have a very variable nos. of spots on the hindwing, even totally without spots. Thankfully, most seem to have some spots.
If you can see a hindwing cell spot ( as seen here in the centre ) it is always Pelopidas.

TL Seow

[Banded Yeoman]

Thanks Uncle Seow for id.

Great swift is a +1 for me.

[kaleshs2002in]

Conjoint swift Pelopidas conjuncta
cheers!