Pelopidas mathias

{{Short description|Species of butterfly}} {{Speciesbox | image = Dark small-branded swift (Pelopidas mathias) Luang Prabang.jpg | image_caption = Luang Prabang, Laos | image2 = Pelopidas mathias India.jpg | image2_caption = Nanakmatta, Uttarakhand, India | genus = Pelopidas | species = mathias | authority = (Fabricius, 1798) | synonyms = *''Hesperia mathias'' Fabricius, 1798 *''Baoris mathias'' *''Parnara parvimacula'' Rothschild, 1915 *''Gegenes elegans'' Mabille, 1877 *''Pamphila umbrata'' Butler, 1879 *''Hesperia octofenestrata'' Saalmüller, 1884 *''Pamphila albirostris'' Mabille 1887 in Grandidier, [1885-7] *''Hesperia chaya'' Moore, [1866] *''Hesperia julianus'' Latreille, [1824] *''Pamphila repetita'' Butler, 1882 | range_map = | range_map_caption = }}

'''''Pelopidas mathias''''', the '''dark small-branded swift''', '''small branded swift''', '''lesser millet skipper''' or '''black branded swift''', is a butterfly belonging to the family Hesperiidae. It is found throughout much of south,<ref name=Smetacek>{{Cite book|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/287980260|title=A Synoptic Catalogue of the Butterflies of India|last1=R.K.|first1=Varshney|last2=Smetacek|first2=Peter|publisher=Butterfly Research Centre, Bhimtal & Indinov Publishing, New Delhi|year=2015|isbn=978-81-929826-4-9|location=New Delhi|pages=57|doi=10.13140/RG.2.1.3966.2164}}</ref> southeast and East Asia, and as far as the Philippines. It is also present in tropical Africa and Arabia.<ref name=Evans>{{Cite book|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/187283#page/465/mode/1up|title=A Catalogue of the Hesperiidae from Europe, Asia, and Australia in the British Museum|last=W. H.|first=Evans|author-link=William Harry Evans |publisher=British Museum (Natural History). Department of Entomology|year=1949|location=London|pages=441}}</ref><ref name=SwinhoeIndica>{{Source-attribution|sentence=yes|{{Cite book|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/103495#page/334/mode/1up|title=Lepidoptera Indica. Vol. X |last=Swinhoe|first=Charles|author-link=Charles Swinhoe|publisher=Lovell Reeve and Co.|year=1912–1913|volume=10 |location=London|pages=320}}}}</ref>

==Description==

In 1891, Edward Yerbury Watson described it as: {{blockquote|Male. Upperside olive brown: forewing with two small yellowish semi-transparent spots within end of cell, three before the apex, and in the male three oblique discal spots followed by a dark-bordered slender straight impressed glandular streak: hindwing with one or two very indistinct pale discal spots. Female with five discal spots in the forewing, and four or five in the hindwing. Underside paler; markings more distinct; hindwing also with a spot at upper end of the cell. Expanse 1.6 inch.<ref>{{convert|1.6|in|mm}}</ref> (Moore)<ref name="watson">{{Cite book|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/64080#page/45/mode/1up|title=Hesperiidae Indicae : being a reprint of descriptions of the Hesperiidae of India, Burma, and Ceylon|last=E. Y.|first=Watson|author-link=Edward Yerbury Watson|publisher=Vest and Company|year=1891|location=Madras|pages=31}}</ref>}}

==Role in agriculture== ''P. mathias'' is considered a pest to rice-growing cultures, although it is not as damaging to rice plants as ''Parnara guttata''. 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.<ref>{{cite book | title=Biology and Management of Rice Insects | publisher=Int. Rice Res. Inst. | first=E.A. (editor) | last=Heinrichs | year=1994 | isbn=81-224-0581-9 | pages=441–42 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZMuAyg59F3cC&dq=Pelopidas+mathias&pg=PA440}}</ref>

==Subspecies== *''Pelopidas mathias mathias'' *''Pelopidas mathias oberthueri'' Evans, 1937 *''Pelopidas mathias repetita'' (Butler, 1882) (Admiralty Island, Dampier Island, Vulcan Island)

==References== {{Commons}} {{Wikispecies}} {{Reflist}}

Category:Pelopidas (skipper) Category:Butterflies of Africa Category:Butterflies described in 1798 Category:Butterflies of Singapore Category:Butterflies of Indochina Category:Insect pests of millets Category:Lepidoptera of the Philippines Category:Taxa named by Johan Christian Fabricius