Bibasis gomata explained

Bibasis gomata, commonly known as the pale green awlet,^[1] is a butterfly belonging to the family Hesperiidae. It is found in Northeast India, the Western Ghats and parts of Southeast Asia. The butterfly was reassigned to genus Burara by Vane-Wright and de Jong (2003) and is considered by them to be Burara gomata.^[2]

Range

The pale green awlet ranges from India, Myanmar, the Malay Peninsula, the Philippines, and the Indonesian archipelago. In India, the butterfly is found in South India up to North Kanara, and along the Himalayas from Sikkim to Assam and eastwards to Myanmar.^{[3] [1]}

The type locality is Darjeeling in the north of West Bengal.^[1]

Status

This species is rare in South India but not rare in the Himalayas.^[4]

Description

The butterfly has a wingspan of 50 to 55 mm.^[4]

Edward Yerbury Watson (1891) gives a detailed description:

Habits

This butterfly is crepuscular.^[2]

Host plants

The larva has been recorded on Heptapleurum venulosum, Heptapleurum wallichianum, Embelia ribes var. ribes, Heptapleurum luridum, Heptapleurum heptaphyllum, Trevesia sundaica, and Horsfieldia species.^{[5] [1]}

References

Print

• Book: Evans . W.H. . William Harry Evans . The Identification of Indian Butterflies . 2nd . Mumbai, India . . 1932 .
• Watson, E. Y. (1891) Hesperiidae indicae. Vest and Co. Madras.

Online

• Web site: The Global Lepidoptera Names Index (LepIndex) . Beccaloni . George . Scoble . Malcolm . Kitching . Ian . Simonsen . Thomas . Robinson . Gaden . Pitkin . Brian . Hine . Adrian . Lyal . Chris . Natural History Museum, London . 2016-10-15 .
• 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/
• Web site: Markku Savela's website on Lepidoptera .

Notes and References

1. Markku Savela's website on Lepidoptera Page on genus Bibasis.
2. 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.
3. Book: A Synoptic Catalogue of the Butterflies of India. R.K.. Varshney. Smetacek. Peter. Butterfly Research Centre, Bhimtal & Indinov Publishing, New Delhi. 2015. 978-81-929826-4-9. New Delhi. 23. 10.13140/RG.2.1.3966.2164.
4. Book: Evans . W.H. . William Harry Evans . The Identification of Indian Butterflies . 2nd . Mumbai, India . . 1932 . 319, ser no I 2.17 .
5. 2018-04-10. Larval host plants of the buterfies of the Western Ghats, India. Ravikanthachari Nitin. V.C. Balakrishnan. Paresh V. Churi. S. Kalesh. Satya Prakash. Krushnamegh Kunte. Journal of Threatened Taxa. 10 . 4. 11495–11550. JoTT. 10.11609/jott.3104.10.4.11495-11550. free.