www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Found this, this morning. It was a big beastie - 45/50mm wingspan - and the forewing long, sharp and narrow. Maybe too big for Paintbrush or Philippine Swift. The books suggest that these Swifts can only be confidently separated by genital dissection, but I thought it worth a post - especially considering the weather forecasts emanating from the UK presently. .

Tony M.

Hi Tony,
Thanks for showing us your photos. Here in Europe, its getting colder day by day.
Chris

The size rather deters me from thinking it is the paintbrush swift. I know some of the Caltoris species have wingspans of about 4.5 cm (from measuring pictures in my books) but others are smaller - and I haven't got pictures of the particular Philippine species to measure. If it is big enough, Caltoris bromus looks a good bet.

Someone really does need to produce an affordable reference book to the butterflies of this part of the world! I recently acquired an excellent guide to the buterflies of the South Pacific and New Zealand, and ages ago bought comprehensive guides to Australia and India - but South-East Asia is much more expensive!

Keep posting!

Guy

Thanks, Guy,

As I noted in my 'Another biggy' post, I think I was a little ambitious sizewise (ugh! horrible!), with this one. 36/38mm would have been nearer the mark. Apologies...

Tony.