Hasora taminatus

White banded awl
H. t. malayana (male, female and female underside)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Hesperiidae
Genus: Hasora
Species: H. taminatus
Binomial name
Hasora taminatus
(Hübner, 1818)[1]
Synonyms
  • Coeliades taminatus Hübner, 1818
  • Hasora alexis vairacana Fruhstorfer, 1911
  • Hasora malayana bhavara Fruhstorfer, 1911
  • Hasora malayana dipama Fruhstorfer, 1911
  • Hasora malayana padma Fruhstorfer, 1911
  • Hasora malayana galaca Fruhstorfer, 1911
  • Ismene malayana C. & R. Felder, 1860
  • Hasora almea Swinhoe, 1909
  • Parata canostigma Joicey & Talbot, 1921
  • Hasora malayana salemana Kalis, 1933
  • Ismene malayana var. attenuata Staudinger, 1889
  • Ismene attenuata Mabille, 1904
  • Hasora meala Swinhoe, 1907
  • Hasora amboinensis Swinhoe, 1909
  • Hasora malayana pramidha Fruhstorfer, 1911

Hasora taminatus,[2][3] the white banded awl, is a butterfly belonging to the family Hesperiidae, which is found in Asia.

Range

The butterfly is found in Sri Lanka, India, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Hainan, Hong Kong, western China, Malaysia, the Indonesian archipelago (Borneo, Sumatra, Java, Nias, Sumbawa and Bali), the Philippines and Sulawesi.

In India the butterfly is found in South India, where it occurs in the Western Ghats, Kodagu, Nilgiri mountains and Palni hills; and in the Himalayas from Mussoorie eastwards to Sikkim and through to Myanmar. It is also found in the Andaman and Nicobar islands.[3][4]

The type locality is South India.[3]

White banded awl at Mount Harriet National Park, Andaman

Status

William Harry Evans (1932) reports that it is common in South India and not rare elsewhere.[4]

Description

For a key to the terms used, see Glossary of entomology terms.

The butterfly, which has a wingspan of 45 to 55 mm, is dark brown and unmarked above; and resembles the common banded awl (Hasora chromus), except that it has a broad white band on the under hindwing which is sharply defined. The female white banded awl has small spots on the upper forewing while the male has no brand above.[5][6]

Detailed description

Edward Yerbury Watson (1891) gives detailed descriptions of H. t. malayana (C. & R. Felder, 1860), shown below:[7]

Alls supra fuscis, subtus anticarum limbo costali, posticarum dimidio basali chalybaeis, his striga discali alba.
— (Felder, I. c.)
The females have a small semi-transparent yellowish discal speck between the two posterior branches of the median vein, and of course lack the oblique band of short lines of modified scales seen in the males of this as well as of the preceding closely-allied species." (Wood-Mason and de Niceville, J. A. S. B., 1881, p. 254.)

The above refers to Andaman females only, as in the Nicobar females the small semi-transparent yellow discal speck between the two posterior branches of the median vein is wanting according to Messrs. Wood-Mason and de Niceville.

Recorded from the Andamans and Nicobars.

Note: As H. t. malayana is sympatric with another subspecies, H. t. bhavara Fruhstorfer, 1911 in part of its range it has now been given specific status.

Host plants

The larva has been recorded on Derris scandens and Pongamia species.[3]

Subspecies

See also

Cited references

  1. ↑ Card for Hasora taminatus in LepIndex. Accessed 12 October 2007.
  2. ↑ TOL web page on genus Hasora
  3. 1 2 3 4 Markku Savela's website on Lepidoptera - page on genus Hasora.
  4. 1 2 Evans, W.H. (1932). The Identification of Indian Butterflies (2nd ed.). Mumbai, India: Bombay Natural History Society. p. 316, ser no I1.15.
  5. ↑ Wynter-Blyth, Mark Alexander (1957). Butterflies of the Indian Region. Bombay, India: Bombay Natural History Society. p. 468. ISBN 978-8170192329.
  6. ↑ Kunte, Krushnamegh (2000). Butterflies of Peninsular India. India, A Lifescape. Hyderabad, India: Universities Press. p. 192. ISBN 978-8173713545.
  7. ↑ Watson, E. Y. (1891) Hesperiidae Indicae: Descriptions of the Hesperiidae of India, Burma and Ceylon. Vest and Co. Madras. (under Parata malayana Felder).

References

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