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New Distribution Record of Butterfly Species in Hong Kong: Taractrocera maevius (Fabricius, 1793) (Common Grass Dart)

The locally rare Common Grass Dart (Taractrocera maevius) was recorded recently on Basalt Island by AFCD staff. On 29 August 2022, an adult of T. maevius was observed sipping nectar on a grassy slope on the rocky shore of Basalt Island. This species has club-headed antennae instead of hooked ones commonly found in Hesperiidae. Its undersides of wings are brown with white spots and the undersides of hindwings are characterised by apparent white veins.

T. maevius is distributed in India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, etc. (Wu & Hsu, 2017). It was first recorded in Hong Kong in 2004 and has not yet been recorded in the Mainland. This sighting record represents a new location for the distribution of this species, which was previously known to be restricted to the Ninepin Group in Hong Kong. The habitat of Basalt Island is similar to that of the Ninepin Group. The host plant species of T. maevius, Ischaemum sp., can be found in both sites. Given that this is a single sighting record, further observation and research are required to confirm whether there is a stable population of T. maevius on Basalt Island.

Acknowledgement: We would like to thank Mr WONG Kwong-chi, Ms LI Choi-chi and Mr TANG Fei-lung for providing the record and photograph of T. maevius.

 

Taractrocera maevius on Basalt Island, Hong Kong

 

Reference:

Wu, C. S., & Hsu, Y. F. (2017). Butterflies of China (Vol. 3). Fuzhou: The Straits Publishing House.