Skipper for ID

[Silverstreak]

Dr. Seow , Your assistance would be much appreciated!

Same skipper

Caltoris bromus bromus??

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d156/Schir/Share/Sunny-Chir-1D3--28_07_2012---7143.jpg

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d156/Schir/Share/Sunny-Chir-1D3--28_07_2012---7140.jpg

[Psyche]

With 2 distinct cell spots & an ochreous brown underside, it is Caltoris bromus, probably male judging from the narrower wings.

It sometimes have a small white spot in space 2 (& space 3 even more rarely) on the hindwing.
Note Horace's bred examples are darker, but that's typical of freshly eclosed individuals.

TL Seow:cheers:

[Silverstreak]

Thanks Dr. Seow !

It is a +1 for both Mandai Zoo and me.

[Psyche]

A big oops here.

Caltoris cormasa not C. bromus.

The ID was based on C&P4's statement of 2 cellspots for C. bromus & one for C. cormasa.
The colouration of the HW never match C. bromus from other regions eg Taiwan.
I have thought it largely due individual variation & the camera's colour setting.

Horace's breeding have shown most C. cormasa have two cellspots though the upper one is usually very small.

TL Seow :cheers:
PS. The females of theTaiwanese ssp. yanuca of C. bromus for comparison.
http://img0.ph.126.net/pAg5pZhYqA8XofMx-dVIpg==/1413848808117714504.jpg
http://www.asiaa.sinica.edu.tw/~ynsu/photo/butterfly/slides/02-33-1-DSC_5316-1.jpg

[Psyche]

Horace's definitive shot of a female Caltoris bromus clears up a number of confusion.

Prior to that invaluable shot there were no shots that could be convincingly ID'ed as C. bromus.

Moreover, the bromus - cormasa fiasco when a bunch of skippers reared by Horace & initially thought to be bromus were identifiable later as cormasa had coloured my thinking.

If bromus is not present in Singapore then this is probably a cormasa variant.

Now that C. bromus is known to be extant, a close scrutiny & comparison indicate this is Caltoris bromus.

1. The HW do not have the kind of redness seen in cormasa. It is darker brown with an overlay of ochreous brown scalings, unlike the more even red-brown colour in cormasa.
2. The FW spots are clear & well-defined, unlike the poorly-defined ones in cormasa.
3. The two FW celspots are larger & typically bromus.
4. The body & underside tends to be a paler grey-brown than the wing colour vs mostly reddish brown & similar to wing colour in cormasa.

Two C. cormasa under similar lighting showing the differences.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c386/moloch05/Malaysia/Taman%20Negara/Mar2012/skipper2.jpg
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s237/jameschia26/Butterflies/IMG_3493.jpg

TL Seow:cheers:

Correction: Wrong comparison & Conclusion.

[Psyche]

I forgot when I corrected the ID to C. cormasa in post 3, this was after comparing to Horace's bred examples which initially thought to be bromus turned out to be C. cormasa.

Moreover the two definitive females by Horace & Puffin have a different duller HW colour & the FW is particularly greyish brown without any hint of redness.

Horace's two female C. cormasa here match the colour correctly & one even have large cellspots.
The cat's head capsule markings identified it as C. cormasa.
http://www.butterflycircle.com/showthread.php?12189-Caltoris-sp&highlight=caltoris

It seems that most field shots of C. cormasa are too red.
This large range of colour for C. cormasa has largely contribute to the confusion .

This is definitely case closed this time.

TL Seow:cheers:

[Psyche]

I have thought this was a C. cormasa with unusally large cell spots & the darkening due to overcontast.
Pix 1 also shows the HW to be rather reddish.

In the light of new shots by Sunny & Horace , including the rearing of several females, a clearer picture have emerged.

The Caltoris species are particularly difficult, since ID often depends on colour difference.
Caltoris cormasa is the commonest & the wide range of colour tone for this species seen is a indication of this difficulty.

The bright illumination of the HW ochreous scales in pix 1 is deceiving.
The suspicious features are the large cell spots & the HW darkening as seen in pix 2.
No C. cormasa seen has such large cellspots.
The HW darkening & blackish tinge is not consistent with the deeper colour in cormasa.
http://dashwolfe.smugmug.com/ButterfliesOfSingapore/Hesperiidae/i-b4S7VMW/0/L/DPP1259-L.jpg
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-b-kBsIeG7Mg/TvKQcjw893I/AAAAAAAAFB0/xjXU0db0o9Y/s1600/DSC3319Caltoris-sp.jpg

Sunny's 2nd male which was set & so can be seen as Caltoris cahira male certainly helps.
The shape of the 2 cellspots , the small spot 3 & overall whiter spots match.
The HW black tinge & darkenibg also match.
http://www.butterflycircle.com/showthread.php?14657-Baoris-sp-Which-one

TL Seow:cheers: