#16 – The Indian Skipper – Spialia galba (Fabricius, 1793)

By: Jatishwor Singh Irungbam

The Indian Skipper Spialia galba (Fabricius, 1793), is a small Skipper (Hesperid) butterfly species found in South Asia and South-East Asia. In sunny days, the butterfly is found flying close to the ground and seen basking with the wings partly open; FW is partly closed and HW is held fully open. Its wings are close while resting and remain hanging on grass blades and the tips of the branches of herbs (Haribal, 1992). It has a swift, twisting but usually short flight.

The adults are about 20 – 27 mm in wingspan and are very similar to WSF of Caprona agama in being dark brown with numerous white spots. But Spialia galba is quite smaller with non-hyaline spots on both wings, the abdomen relatively longer than Caprona agama. The male lacks black hair pencils on the forelegs otherwise both sexes are similar (Ek-Ammuay, 2006).

Figure 1: Spialia galba (Fabricius, 1793) basking with open wings. Photo: Jatishwor Irungbam

In India, the butterfly is distributed throughout India to Arunachal and NE India (Evans, 1932; Varshney & Smetacek, 2015). Outside India, the butterfly is recorded in Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Thailand (Smith, 1989; Ek-Ammuay, 2006; Kehimkar, 2016)

Taxonomic position:

Habitat & Habits:

The butterfly prefers grasslands and forest edges at altitudes up to 2,700 m (Kehimkar, 2016).

Food Plants:

The Indian skipper visits flowers, preferring those with small flowers such as Tridax procumbens and species of Dicplitera or Bidens. Larvae feed on Sida rhombifolia and Waltheria indica in Thailand (Ek-Ammuay, 2006).

Figure 2: Spialia galba (Fabricius, 1793) sitting on Tridax procumbens. Photo by: Jatishwor Irungbam. 

Sightings in Manipur:

The butterfly is very common and widespread in Manipur throughout the year. The butterfly was seen on the wings between February to November. The butterfly was sighted at Matai, Nongmaiching RF, Keibul Lamjao NP, Gwarok RF, Yaingangpokpi Lokchao WS, Langol RF, Lamdeng, Ningombam, Leimaram, Sadu Chiru, Mahadev and Kanglatombi.

Table 1: Temporal distribution of Spialia galba (Fabricius, 1793) in Manipur.

Reference:

Ek-Amnuay, P. (2006). Butterflies of Thailand, Vol 2. Bangkok: Baan Lae Suan, 867 pp.

Evans, W.H. (1932). The Identification of Indian Butterflies (2nd ed.). Mumbai, India: Bombay Natural History Society.

Haribal, M (1992). The Butterflies of Sikkim Himalaya and Their Natural History. Gangtok, Sikkim, India: Sikkim Nature Conservation Foundation.

Kehimkar, I. (2016). Butterflies of India. Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai. Pp xii + 528 pp.

Smith, C. (1989). Butterflies of Nepal (Central Himalayas). Craftman Press: Bangkok. 353 pp.

Varshney, R. K. & P. Smetacek. (2015). A synoptic Catalogue of the Butterflies of India. Butterfly Research Centre, Bhimtal and Indinov Publishing, New Delhi, ii + 261 pp., 8 pl.