Hong Kong Lepidopterists' Society

Male (upper and underside)

Female (upper and underside)

Several unfamiliar Hesperid  larvae collected at Wong Lung Hang, Lantau Island  in October, 2000 were reared.  The emerged adult butterfly looks very similar to the existing recorded Caltoris bromus but they differ both in the mythology of their larval stages and host plant consumption. Expert advice from Dr. Hideyuki CHIBA was called for its identification. It was kindly identified and confirmed to be Caltoris bromus (Leech), a new record for Hong Kong.  The recorded Caltoris species thought to be bromus is in fact Caltoris cahira (Moore).   

N.B. Please see Caltoris bromus in separate section for reference and the mythological difference highlighted below.

LOCATION - throughout Hong Kong

FOOD PLANT - Bambuse spp.

For further reading on the genitalia of Caltoris bromus & C. cahira, please see :-

Corbet A. S. & Pendlebury H.M., 1992, The Butterflies Of The Malay Peninsula, 4th Edition revised by Lt. Col. J. N. Eliot, Malayan Nature Society, K. L. Malaysia, pp. 592-593. 

Maruyama K. & Otsuka K.,1991, Butterflies Of Borneo, Vol.2, No.2 Hesperiidae, Tobishima Corporation, Tokyo, pl. 39.

Immature stages of Caltoris cahira 

2nd instar larva
3rd instar larva
4th instar larva

5th/final instar larva
	Male	Male - Head capsule
5th/final instar larva
	Female	Female - Head capsule
Pupa
	Male	Female
Intrinsic part of the male genitalia (left), valva (right)

Mythological difference of Caltoris bromus and Caltoris cahira
	Caltoris bromus (Leech)	Caltoris cahira (Moore)
Adult male
4th instar larva
5th instar larva
Genitalia - left valva
Host plant	Phragmites Karka (Retz) Trim. Ex. Steud (Gramineae)	Bambusa spp. (Gramineae)

(prepared by J. J. Young)