Yellow band or Pava dart

Potanthus pava (ssp. lesbia?)

Description:

Spotted at entrance of Snake-Hot Springs Cave, Baggao, Cagayan. Wiki - A skipper or skipper butterfly is a butterfly of the family Hesperiidae. They are named after their quick, darting flight habits.

Habitat:

Stream side.

Notes:

ID to Family Hesperiidae by KarenL. ID suggested as Potanthus confucius by bayucca. ID suggested as Potanthus pava lesbia by Lydia Robledo. Photo by Jerry Rendon.

1 Species ID Suggestions

bayucca 12 years ago

Tropic Dart

Potanthus confucius Hong Kong Lepidopterists' Society - Potanthus(Hesperiidae)

16 Comments

Mark Ridgway 12 years ago

Great ID work everyone.

BalincaguinConservancy 12 years ago

The Hesperiidae (Lepidoptera) of the Philippines, Jong & Treadaway, 1993, http://www.repository.naturalis.nl/docum..., records P. confucius only in the island of Palawan. P. pava lesbia is recorded near this spotting's location, Pg. 72, Fig 120.

BalincaguinConservancy 12 years ago

Lydia Robledo (PARUPAROZZIS: Butterfly Watchers Philippines) commented: "It most likely is Potanthus pava lesbia which is the one recorded from Nothern Luzon. P. Confucious was recorded from Palawan Islands."

bayucca 12 years ago

:-))

BalincaguinConservancy 12 years ago

Great sleuthing bayucca!!! I too would go with P. confucius considering the reference you linked states that: "Yellow spots A overlapping almost 1/2 the width of the yellow band beneath and no yellow spot or spot diffuse under B in hindwing." http://www.hkls.org/hes/Potanthus/P_conf....

I uploaded a new photo with spots marked.

bayucca 12 years ago

bayucca 12 years ago

I think it might be a Potanthus sp., but I am not sure. You have to check it very carefully and look at different species since it is quite a variable family. Potanthus confucius is very common around the whole Asian area. So why not ;-)...???

Sachin Zaveri 12 years ago

Lovely,,

BalincaguinConservancy 12 years ago

Anyway, thanks for your enlightened input, bayucca!

BalincaguinConservancy 12 years ago

You're right bayucca, I was wondering about the sp.

bayucca 12 years ago

In this case you have some nice and distinct spots, so it should be possible to get at least the genus without killing the skipper. If you have no markings and spots you have no chance to get an ID without further examination of the native specimen (and even then it might be tricky). Asian skippers are a little bit out of my range, so I am not much of help...

BalincaguinConservancy 12 years ago

It certainly does Argybee, along with many I'm finding on my image searches. As Wiki states, "Many species of skippers look frustratingly alike... The only reliable method of telling them apart involves dissection and microscopic examination of the genitalia, which have characteristic structures that prevent mating except between conspecifics."

bayucca 12 years ago

That's the problem with all these skippers, independent where are they coming from: They look all almost the same ;-)... You have to check each spot, measures the distances between these spots, check the margins etc. I don't think it is any of these ones. To be picky: It is just Hesperiidae, the adnex "sp." is only used after the name of the genus.