''Sarangesa dasahara'', also known as the common small flat, is a species of

butterfly Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossi ...

in the family

Hesperiidae Skippers are a group of butterflies placed in the family Hesperiidae within the order Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies). They were previously placed in a separate superfamily, Hesperioidea, but have since been placed in the superfamily Papilion ...

. It is found in the

Indomalayan realm The Indomalayan realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms. It extends across most of South and Southeast Asia and into the southern parts of East Asia. Also called the Oriental realm by biogeographers, Indomalaya spreads all over the Ind ...

Description

The common small flat has a wingspan or around 30–35 mm. It is a dull black or brown butterfly with a semi-transparent spot on the wings and sometimes with no visible spots. The underside of the wings is grey brown with diffused dark spots. The male and female are similar in shape and colour and with hardly any differentiation. Both sexes of the flat are similar in appearance, being dull brownish black above and greyer in colour below. The butterflies have small, semi-transparent discal, cell and apical spots. The dark spots on the underside of the forewing are large, dark and diffused. (under Common Small Flat ''Sarangesa dasahara'' Moore).

Status, distribution and habitat

This species is most commonly visible at the end of the rainy season, but sparsely found in the post-

monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in Atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annu ...

months. It is common but not abundant in most habitats. The spotted small flat ('' Sarangesa purendra''), though, is more common in the arid regions. It occurs in openings and edges in both the evergreen and semi-evergreen forests, deciduous forests, and scrub & short grassland savannahs. It is found in the Deccan plains and also in the hills, but more frequently found at lower elevations. Except for the very dry north-west India, it occurs commonly throughout the country, in Sri Lanka and in the Indo-Chinese region.

Habits

The butterfly though tiny, flies extraordinarily fast but in an erratic and jerky fashion. Though the flight seems jerky and erratic, the butterfly lands smoothly on the substratum, and that too suddenly. It fight is always close to the ground and has the habit of sometimes returning to the same spot for perching. It feeds on flowers of herbs and small bushes and also rarely on birds' droppings and wet rocks for minerals. It always keeps its wings spread. It almost always rests on the underside of leaves, but basks on the upperside with its wings fully spread.

Larval host plants

Its larval host plants are

Acanthaceae Acanthaceae () is a Family (biology), family (the acanthus family) of dicotyledonous flowering plants containing almost 250 genera and about 2500 species. Most are Tropics, tropical Herbaceous plant, herbs, shrubs, or twining vines; some are epip ...

herbs and small shrubs; '' Asystasia'' species and '' Blepharis asperrima''. These species grow in neglected places around human habitations, in deciduous forests and openings in evergreen forests.

Subspecies

*''Sarangesa dasahara dasahara'' (north-western Himalaya to Myanmar, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, southern Yunnan) *''Sarangesa dasahara albicilia'' Moore,

881 __NOTOC__ Year 881 ( DCCCLXXXI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * February 12 – King Charles the Fat, the third son of the late Louis the German, is crowned as Holy Roman Emper ...

/small> (Sri Lanka) *''Sarangesa dasahara davidsoni'' Swinhoe, 1912 (India: Maharashtra)

Cited references

References

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q7423107 Butterflies described in 1865 Celaenorrhinini Butterflies of Asia Taxa named by Frederic Moore