First Record of Caltoris canaraica - Karwar Swift from Sindhudurg District, Maharashtra, India

First Record of Caltoris canaraica - Karwar Swift from Sindhudurg District, Maharashtra, India

- Raj Gurav & Nitin Kawthankar (2024)

Karwar Swift nectaring on Ranmodi flowers ©️Raj Gurav

Butterfly Biodata:

Butterfly: Karwar Swift or Kanara Swift
Species: Caltoris canaraica (Moore, [1884])
Subspecies: no subspecies
Classification: Hesperiidae: Hesperiinae: Baorini
Wingspan: 41 mm
Larval host plants: Bamboo (Poaceae)

The genus Caltoris Swinhoe, 1893 is represented by four species in the Peninsular India, with two species previously recorded from Sindhudurg district and Maharashtra: C. kumara (Moore, 1878) and C. philippina (Herrich-Schäffer, 1869) (Sadasivan et al., 2023; Butterflies of India, 2024).

Caltoris canaraica (Moore, [1884]) was originally described as Parnara canaraica Moore, [1884], with its type locality in the Canara region of the western coast of South India (Moore, 1884). Wynter-Blyth (1957) subsequently transferred it to Caltoris, referring to it as the Kanara Swift. Recently, it has been renamed the Karwar Swift (Butterflies of India, 2024).

Historically considered endemic to the Western Ghats and adjoining regions, C. canaraica has been recorded well outside of the Western Ghats in Peninsular India, from Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu (Butterflies of India, 2024). A single central Indian record from Nagpur, Maharashtra by Tiple & Khurad (2009) lacks photographic evidence, with no other confirmed records from Central India.

Here, we present the first record of C. canaraica from Kudal NP, Sindhudurg district, Maharashtra. A single individual was observed nectaring on 'Ranmodi' - Chromolaena odorata (Asteraceae) flowers and resting on leaves at intervals on 10 Jan 2024 at around 11:50 hrs.

This sighting represents the northernmost record of the C. canaraica from the Western Ghats and new addition to the Sindhudurg district's checklist, expanding its known distribution range northwards in the Western Ghats of Maharashtra.

References:

Butterflies of India (2024): Caltoris canaraica - Karwar Swift. Acc. 07/12/2024.

Sadasivan, Basu & Kunte (2009). A new subspecies of Caltoris Swinhoe, 1893 (Lepidoptera, Hesperiidae) from the Malabar Coast, Kerala, India. Entomon, 48(1): 1-10. DOI: 10.33307/entomon.v48i1.838.

Moore (1884). Descriptions of new Asiatic diurnal Lepidoptera. Proc. zool. Soc. Lond., 4: 534.

Wynter-Blyth (1957). Butterflies of the Indian Region.

Tiple & Khurad (2009). Butterfly species diversity, habitats and seasonal distribution in and around Nagpur City, central India. World Journal of Zoology, 4(3): 153-162.

Observations by Raj Gurav & text by Nitin Kawthankar.