Luzon Grass Dart

Hesperiidae; Hesperiinae; Taractrocera luzonensis luzonensis Staudinger, 1889. The Luzon Grass Dart is unmistakable, when seen in dorsal view. The contrast between the chocolate brown background colour and the golden yellow markings is very striking. I think the phrase "Once seen, never forgotten" just about sums up what I felt, the first time I saw one. However, if this butterfly is spotted in lateral view, with the wings closed, it is not so striking and much more difficult to identify unequivocally. The problem is that there are several different "Darts", in the subfamily Hesperiinae, and whilst their dorsal views differ widely, their lateral views share many commonalities and need to be checked very carefully.