Bibasis harisa

Bibasis harisa
Orange Awlet
Male, female and male underwing
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Hesperiidae
Genus: Bibasis
Species: B. harisa
Binomial name
Bibasis harisa
(de Niceville, 1883)[1]
Synonyms

Ismene harisa de Niceville, 1883[1]
Burara harisa

Bibasis harisa, or the Orange Awlet[2] (a name also used for Bibasis jaina), is a species of hesperid found in Asia. The butterfly has been reassigned to genus Burara vide Vane-Wright and de Jong (2003) and is now known as Burara harisa.[3]

Contents

Range

The Orange Awlet is found in India, Myanmar, Malaysia, Java, Singapore and North Vietnam.[2]

In India, the butterfly is found along the Himalayas from Sikkim to Assam and eastwards to South Myanmar. It also has been recorded from the Andaman islands.[2][4]

The type locality is Bengal.[2]

Status

'Rare' in South India and 'Not Rare' in the Himalayas.[4]

Description

See glossary for terms used.

The butterfly has a wingspan of 45 to 55 mm.[4]

Watson (1891) gives a detailed description:[5]

Male and female brown.
Male. Upperside dull vinaceous brown, palest on the disk; forewing with an orange yellow costal streak; hindwing broadly along anterior margin pale buff yellow. Body greyish. Cilia of hindwing orange yellow. Underside paler suffused with orange yellow ; forewing with a curved series of pale purple narrow streaks between the veins before the apex, and a broad pale buff patch along the posterior margin ; hindwing with the veins and lines between them and cilia orange yellow: a black orange yellow encircled basal spot on both wings; a discal series of pale purplish streaks. Third joint of palpi brown ; palpi beneath, front and sides of thorax, legs and streak alongside of abdomen orange yellow ; middle of thorax and abdomen and anal tuft orange yellow.
Female. Upperside dark purple brown ; the base of wings greyish, with steel blue gloss. Body greyish. Cilia of hindwing pale orange yellow. Underside as in male ; posterior margin of forewing with a less defined pale patch.

Habits

Crepuscular.[3]

Host-plants

The larva has been recorded on Zingiber zerumbet (Zingiberaceae).[2]

Cited references

  1. ^ a b Card for Burara harisa in LepIndex. Accessed 16 October 2007.
  2. ^ a b c d e Marrku Savela's Website on Lepidoptera Page on Bibasis genus.
  3. ^ a b Vane-Wright and de Jong (2003) (see TOL web pages on genus Bibasis and genus Burara in the Tree of Life Web Project) state that Bibasis contains just three diurnal species, the crepuscular remainder having been removed to Burara. The species now shifted to Burara are morphologically and behaviorally distinct from Bibasis, within which many authors have formerly included them.
  4. ^ a b c Evans,W.H.(1932) The Identification of Indian Butterflies, ser no I 2.13, pp 318-319.
  5. ^ Watson, E. Y. (1891) Hesperiidae indicae.

References

Print

  • Evans, W.H. (1932) The Identification of Indian Butterflies. 2nd Ed, (i to x, pp454, Plates I to XXXII), Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai, India.
  • Watson, E. Y. (1891) Hesperiidae indicae. Vest and Co. Madras.

Online

  • Beccaloni, G. W., Scoble, M. J., Robinson, G. S. & Pitkin, B. (Editors). 2003. The Global Lepidoptera Names Index (LepIndex). World Wide Web electronic publication. [1] (accessed 22 September 2007).
  • Brower, Andrew V. Z. and Warren, Andrew, (2007). Coeliadinae Evans 1937. Version 21 February 2007 (temporary). http://tolweb.org/Coeliadinae/12150/2007.02.21 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/
  • Savela, Marrku Website on Lepidoptera [2] (accessed 22 September 2007)



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