Pseudoborbo bevani (Moore, 1878)
Bevan's Rice Swift
(also known as Borbo bevani)
HESPERIINAE,   HESPERIIDAE,   HESPERIOIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans,
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley


Drawing J. N. Fitch, in Charles Swinhoe :
Lepidoptera Indica, Volume 10, Plate 831, fig. 2,
image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by University of Illinois Urbana Champaign Library

The Caterpillars of this species are basically green. The head is black with a white curved stripe down each side. The caterpillars feed on various grasses and cereals from the Grass family POACEAE, including :

  • Dallis Grass ( Paspalum ),
  • Rice ( Oryza sativa ), and
  • Sugar Cane ( Saccharum officinarum ).

    The caterpillar forms a shelter in a folded leaf of the foodplant. The caterpillar pupates in this shelter. The pupa is green, with pointed ends.


    underside
    (Photo: courtesy of Archisman Guha Roy, India)

    The adult butterflies are brown with a number of pale transparent spots on the forewings. The butterflies have a wingspam of about 3 cms.

    This species occurs across south-east Asia including:

  • China, and
  • India.

    Identifications of specimens from Australia as this species are erroneous.


    Further reading :

    Michael F. Braby,
    Butterflies of Australia,
    CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 2000, vol. 1, p. 248.

    Frederic Moore,
    Descriptions of new Asiatic Hesperidae,
    Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London,
    1878, Part 3, p. 688.


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    (updated 3 September 2001, 2 March 2017, 30 May 2020)