A new subspecies of Caltoris Swinhoe, 1893 (Lepidoptera, Hesperiidae) from the Malabar Coast, Kerala, India

Abstract

The Indo-Australian genus Caltoris has over 15 species distributed from India through south China and SE Asia into New Guinea and Solomon Islands. Based on wing colouration, characters of male  genitalia, and early larval stages on the host plant Phragmites karka, a new subspecies of Caltoris bromus (Leech, 1894), Caltoris bromus sadasiva ssp. nov., is described from the coastal lakes and mangrove associated swamps of Kerala, southern India on the western slopes of the Western Ghats. This is the first record of C. bromus from Western Ghats and Peninsular India. This extends the distribution range of the species from NE India to south-western India, adding it to the butterfly fauna of the Western Ghats.