Common Snow Flat

Description:

Hesperiidae; Pyrginae; Tagiades japetus titus Plötz 1884. "(Pyrginae)...Spread-winged skippers bask with their wings held wide open. The wings are held closed when they are at rest. They are usually brown, black, or checkered, but some are brilliantly coloured. Some have long tailed hind wings...Males maintain territories and frequently perch on overhanging branches and tree trunks. They do not visit flowers for sustenance, but rather drink fluids from dung, carrion, and rotting fruit." Wikipedia.

Habitat:

This Common Snow Flat was spotted in our front yard on a dead leaf which had fallen from a Jackfruit Tree (Artocarpus heterophyllus) locally known as Langka - Plant I.D. from: http://www.stuartxchange.org/Langka

Notes:

The cropped picture looks rather strange because of the dead leaf. So I included the uncropped picture to give a better idea of the habitat. Also, in view of Wikipedia's notes on the rather gross nutritional habits of Pyrginae, I should mention that we have three pet dogs which occasionally "poop" in our front yard. This is, of course, cleaned up as soon as it is seen, but if the dogs do this during the night, it will not be dealt with until daybreak. This is very likely what attracted this butterfly to visit us. This note looks awful, I want to erase it, but the facts must be stated.