📸 PhotoPhoto: kumon from unknown · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons Source
Common straight swift
Parnara guttatus (Common straight swift · イチモンジセセリ)
Not Evaluated (NE) on the IUCN Red List yet.
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 A wingspan of 4 cm is less than half the long side of a credit card (8.56 cm) (Comparison).
- 💡 Its larval food plants include rice and barley, and many individuals can be seen around blooming flowers in autumn (National List of Species of Korea).
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
📖 1. Overview
The common straight swift is a skipper butterfly (family Hesperiidae) inhabiting all of Korea, with many individuals seen around blooming flowers in autumn. Globally, it is distributed in the Russian Far East, China, Japan, Taiwan, and the Philippines.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
Its wings are blackish brown with well-developed white spots in the center of both the forewings and hindwings. Females have noticeably wider wings and larger wing markings than males.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
It produces 2–3 generations a year, appears from late May to November, and overwinters as a larva. Host plants of the larvae are grasses (Poaceae) such as rice, barley, silver grass, foxtail, and crabgrass.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
It inhabits the entire Korean Peninsula (excluding the northeastern alpine region) (National List of Species of Korea).
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List: not evaluated (NE) — cross-checked with the Wikidata conservation-status entry
- • catalogueoflife.org — 4DQ53
- • 국가생물종목록(국립생물자원관) ktsn 120000091706 — https://species.nibr.go.kr/home/mainHome.do?cont_link=009&subMenu=009002&contCd=009002&ktsn=120000091706
- • wikidata.org — Q1314537
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:Parnara.guttata.jpg
- • species.nibr.go.kr — mainHome.do
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — author not recorded · CC0 1.0 (Related taxon silhouette — Polites sabuleti)
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.