As evident from the name, Chestnut Bob Butterfly is a skipper butterfly with chestnut color. It is the common skipper butterfly found here, often sitting on thulsi leaves or thumba flowers.
Photo 1: Exif- f/5.6, 1/250s, ISO 500, -0.3 step, Nikon D7100, Micro-Nikkor 105mm f2.8G. Date- Jul 6, 2015. Location- Cheruvally, Kerala.
I found this butterfly on a thulsi leaf on an evening. The light condition was in unison with the brown color of the butterfly.
Photo 2: Exif- f/8, 1/80s, ISO 400, Nikon D7100, Micro-Nikkor 105mm f2.8G. Date- Feb 7, 2016. Location- Thattekad, Kerala.
Photo 2 is from Thattekad butterfly park, with the little one resting on the tiny pink flower. This flowering plant is commonly grown here, mainly gardens. It is favorite for butterflies. The ground forms the brown color in the background.
About Chestnut Bob Butterfly (Iambrix salsala)
Iambrix salsala(Moore) has a wide range of distribution in South Asia – India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Myanmar. Wingspan is around 30 mm. Seen in large numbers during monsoon. There are black scales all over the wings. There are white spots with black on the wings. So identification is fairly easy.
They are abundant in numbers during monsoon and post-monsoon season. But one can see them during other months also. The second photo from Thattekad is from the month of February. They flies very swiftly, but close to the ground.
Family: Hesperiidae.
Malayalam name: Chenkurumban.
See also: Pygmy Scrub Hopper.
