Higher classification Bibasis | Family Hesperiidae Scientific name Bibasis gomata Rank Species | |
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Similar Coeliadinae, Bibasis, Butterfly, Insect, Butterflies and moths | ||
Butterfly caterpilla bibasis gomata making a leaf shelter
Bibasis gomata, commonly known as the pale green awlet, 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.
Contents
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.
The type locality is Darjeeling in the north of West Bengal.
Status
This species is rare in South India but not rare in the Himalayas.
Description
The butterfly has a wingspan of 50 to 55 mm.
Edward Yerbury Watson (1891) gives a detailed description:
Male. Upperside pale vinaceous brown; both wings with pale brownish yellow streaks longitudinally between the veins. Abdomen blackish brown with yellowish bands. Cilia yellowish. Underside dark brown, with the veins and longitudinal streaks between them greyish green, the brown showing only along each side of the veins; posterior margin of forewing broadly pale vinaceous; exterior margin of both wings defined by a brown line. Third joint of palpi and edge of sides brown, the rest yellow. Thorax, legs and abdomen beneath orange yellow.
FemaleHabits
This butterfly is crepuscular.
Host plants
The larva has been recorded on Schefflera lurida, Schefflera octophylla, Trevesia sundaica, Embelia garciniaefolia and Horsfieldia species.