Rice Swift

Description:

Hesperiidae; Hesperiinae; Borbo cinnara Wallace 1866. I should mention that the first photo shown above was actually the last one that I took. I placed it first because I think it is the best photo. When I spotted this Rice Swift, I saw that it had its proboscis extended and it was sipping nectar from a Periwinkle flower. I have known for some time now that members of the Hesperiinae adopt different postures for sipping and resting. Wikipedia explains it like this: "Adults typically visit flowers and hold their wings together while feeding. Hesperiinae are unique in that they hold their wings partially open while resting, with the forewings and hindwings held at different angles. This is known as the 'jet-plane' position". With most Hesperiinae, this does not present a problem for identification because they have recognisable markings on the underside of their wings. So, even with wings closed, identification is not too difficult. However some other species (of the Hesperiinae) have no markings or very faint markings (as in this case) and identification becomes problematic or impossible. I took my first picture (the one with the Periwinkle), knowing that it would not help much with identification. The shutter click and the flash startled the little butterfly and it took off, but landed only a few feet away, on a Dwarf Santan and continued sipping in the closed wing position. This was repeated several times and I was now thinking of giving up when suddenly it partially (and only briefly) opened its wings. It was just enough to let me take the photo which, although I took it last, I have placed it first in my five pictures above. The markings on the upper wing surface led me to an easy identification - Borbo cinnara.

Habitat:

This Rice Swift was spotted in our front yard. It was sipping nectar from Pink Periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus) and Dwarf Santan (Ixora coccinea). Plant identification - http://www.stuartxchange.org