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Text and photographs protected by Copyright © Adrian Hoskins 2007, and must not be published in part or in whole elsewhere without prior written permission from the author.
Butterflies of the Andes
 
Goldspot Skipper
Dalla cypselus FELDER & FELDER, 1867
Family - HESPERIIDAE
subfamily - HETEROPTERINAE
Tribe -
 
 introduction | habitats | lifecycle | adult behaviour
 
Dalla cypselus, male, Manu cloudforest, 1500m, Peru
 
Introduction
 
The Chequered Skipper Carterocephalus palaemon is one of only a handful of species in the subfamily Heteropterinae which occur in the northern hemisphere. The remaining 140 species, including the 95 which make up the genus Dalla, are exclusively neotropical in distribution.
 
The various Dalla species have several characteristics in common - they all have the same wing shape, and enlarged and hooked antennae clubs. In the majority of species the upperside wings are blackish brown, marked with small golden-yellow spots on the forewings, and with a single larger spot on the hindwings. The upperside pattern is repeated on the underside, but in more subdued tones of mid-brown and creamy yellow.
 
Dalla cypselus is one of the commoner species, and is found in Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and probably also in northern Chile.
 
Habitats
 
This species inhabits Andean cloudforests at elevations between about 1200-2000m. It may occur on the western slopes in Ecuador and Colombia, but elsewhere within it's range it appears to be confined to the eastern Andes.
 
Lifecycle
 
I have no data relating to the early stages of any Dalla species, but it is likely that the lifecycle bears similarities with Carterocephalus. If this is the case, the eggs are probably globular, pale in colour, and laid singly on grass blades. The larvae are likely to be green, and marked along the back and sides with fine dark or pale lines. They almost certainly construct nests made by rolling a grass blade into a tube, bound together with silk. The pupae are likely to be formed within a tent of leaves.
 
Adult behaviour

 

In flight the butterflies can easily be mistaken for large flies - the flight is very rapid, zigzagging and buzzing about just above the surface of the ground.

 

Males often congregate at damp soil, particularly around muddy ditches where there is a mass of dead rotting vegetation. They filter-feed, continually sucking up water with the proboscis, extracting dissolved minerals, and expelling the water in a jet from the anus. On other occasions the ejected water is dropped onto the substrate, and the proboscis curled underneath the body so that the liquid can be re-imbibed and further minerals extracted.

 

When feeding in ditches, the wings are usually held partly open, but when settled on hot paths the butterflies close their wings as a means of regulating their body temperatures while feeding.

 

 
 
Text and photographs protected by Copyright © Adrian Hoskins 2007-2008, and must not be reproduced or published in part or in whole elsewhere in any form without written permission from Adrian Hoskins. Breach of copyright will be pursued by litigation.
 
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