Orange-tailed awlet

Description

Bibasis sena, commonly known as the orange-tailed awlet, is a butterfly belonging to the family Hesperiidae, the skippers. It is also sometimes called the pale green awlet though that name can also refer to Bibasis gomata. This skipper is found in Sri Lanka, India, Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, south Vietnam, Hainan, Malay peninsula, Indonesian archipelago (including Borneo, Java, Kangean, Bali, Lombok, Bawean, Sumba, Sumbawa) and the Philippines. In India, this skipper is found in the Western Ghats including the Nilgiris, Kodagu, Kanara, and the Himalayas, from Shimla eastward to Northeast India and onto Myanmar (recorded in the Karens and Dawnas). Also found in Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The type locality for this species is the region of Bengal. William Harry Evans (1932) records the orange-tail awl as rare in India and very rare in the Andaman islands. He records the butterfly as not rare in south Myanmar, the Malay Peninsula and parts of the Indonesian archipelago. Both sexes: The butterfly has a wingspan of 45 to 50 mm. Above, both sexes are an unblemished dark brown. The hindwings have an orange fringe. The abdomen is orange towards the rear. Below, the wings have white patches; the forewings having a large white central patch, and the hindwings having a broad pure white discal band. The male has no brands. Edward Yerbury Watson (1891) gives a detailed description as follows: Male. Upperside dark chocolate brown. Cilia of hindwing carmine-red. Underside maroon brown; forewing with a large buff-white patch from the middle of posterior margin, bordered above with purple; hindwing with a broad transverse purple white band terminating before the anal angle, the inner border of which is sharply defined, the outer suffusing itself on the disk. Cilia carmine-red. Palpi and thorax in front, beneath and anal tuft dull yellow. Thorax beneath greyish brown. The female is described by Mr. Moore in his "Lepidoptera of Ceylon" as not differing from the male.