Iambrix salsala

Iambrix salsala
File:Chestnut Bob Iambrix salsala by kadavoor.JPG
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Hesperiidae
Genus:	Iambrix
Species:	I.salsala
Binomial name
Iambrix salsala (Moore, 1865)
Synonyms
Astictopterus salsala

Iambrix salsala, commonly known as the Chestnut Bob, is a butterfly belonging to the family Hesperiidae, that is found in Asia and parts of Southeast Asia.

Range

File:IambrixSalsala 791 2 Fitch.png

The butterfly occurs in Sri Lanka, India, Nepal, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, North Vietnam, Hainan, Hong Kong, South Yunnan, Langkawi, Malaysia, Singapore, Tioman, Sumatra and Java.

In India, the butterfly flies in South India, Calcutta, along the Himalayas from Kumaon to Sikkim, Assam and eastwards to Myanmar.

Watson (1891) states the butterflies range as follows:

Has been recorded from Bengal (Moore), Cachar (Wood-Mason and de Niceville); Tavoy (Elwes and de Niceville) ; Calcutta (de Niceville) ; Orissa (Taylor) ; Sikkim (de Niceville ; Elwes). Recorded as A. stellifer from Ceylon (Hutchison, Wade, Mackwood); Poona, Bombay (Swinhoe) ; and the Nilgiris (Hampson).

Description

See glossary for terms used

Watson (1891) gives a detailed description, shown below:

Male and female dark brown with olive-brown gloss. Male ; upperside, forewing Avith two or three ill-defined yellowish spots ascending obliquely from beyond middle of posterior margin. Female ; forewing with an oblique series of small semi-transparent white spots curving across the disc (more or less distinct), and terminated below by an ill-defined yellowish spot. Underside chestnut-brown suffused with black on the disc; forewing with minute white spots, one at extremity of the cell, and two or three obliquely beyond ; hindwing with a series of three spots disposed in a curve across disc ; cilia greyish-brown. Palpi, body, and legs yellowish beneath.

Mr. de Niceville states that he considers A. salsala to be identical with A. stellifer, though Mr. Moore informs him that the female of A. salsala has a curved discal row of seven white spots and two lower ochraceous discal spots, and is a larger species than A. stellifer, Butler. According to

Mr. Elwes the two species are identical, Sikkim specimens varying considerably in the spots of the forewing above, which are sometimes white, sometimes rufous and sometimes absent as in stellifer.

I have numerous specimens of this species from Rangoon, Beeling, Upper Tenasserim, Madras, Kadur District, and Mysore ; they vary considerably in the distinctness of the spots both on upperside and underside, but I can find no sure characteristic by which to separate them into two species.

— E. Y. Watson

Host plants

The larva has been recorded on Setaria barbata, Bambusa spp., Mimosa spp.

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: being a reprint of descriptions of the Hesperiidae of India, Burma, and Ceylon.. 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., (2007). Iambrix Watson 1893. Version 4 March 2007 (under construction). Page on genus Iambrix in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/.
• Savela, Marrku. Website on Lepidoptera [2] (accessed 12 October 2007)