''Pelopidas mathias'', the dark small-branded swift, small branded swift, lesser millet skipper or black branded swift, is a

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

belonging to the family

Hesperiidae Skippers are a family of the Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies) named the Hesperiidae. Being diurnal, they are generally called butterflies. They were previously placed in a separate superfamily, Hesperioidea; however, the most recent taxonomy ...

. It is found throughout much of south,

southeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...

and

East Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea and ...

, and as far as the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. It is also present in tropical

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

and

Arabia The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plate. ...

Description

SMALL BRANDED SWIFT Pelopidas mathias mathisas W

In 1891,

Edward Yerbury Watson Edward Yerbury Watson (27 July 1864 – 8 November 1897) was an English entomologist who specialised in Lepidoptera most notably Hesperiidae. Yerbury Watson was born in British India to Joanna and George Edward Watson. He joined the North Lan ...

described it as:

Role in agriculture

''P. mathias'' is considered a pest to

rice Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima ''Oryza glaberrima'', commonly known as African rice, is one of the two domesticated rice species. It was first domesticated and grown i ...

-growing cultures, although it is not as damaging to rice plants as ''

Parnara guttata ''Parnara guttata'', the common straight swift, is a butterfly of the family Hesperiidae. It is found in the Indomalayan realm, Amur (Russian Far East), eastern China, and Japan. Its wingspan is about 40 mm. Common straight swift la ...

''. Newly hatched caterpillars are especially voracious in eating young seedlings. They also use silken threads to roll up and stitch together partially eaten leaves for more efficient consumption.

Subspecies

*''Pelopidas mathias mathias'' *''Pelopidas mathias oberthueri'' Evans, 1937 *''Pelopidas mathias repetita'' (Butler, 1882) (Admiraly Island, Dampier Island, Vulcan Island) File:Small Branded Swift Pelopidas mathias UN Sanjay Gandhi National Park Mumbai 078 (1).jpg File:Small Branded Swift Pelopidas mathias UN Sanjay Gandhi National Park Mumbai 078 (2).jpg

References

Pelopidas (skipper) Butterflies of Asia Butterflies described in 1798 Butterflies of Singapore Butterflies of Indochina Insect pests of millets {{hesperiinae-stub