Cerba martini

Cerba martini (Distant & Preyer, 1887)


♂, Ranong, Thailand.		♀, Ranong, Thailand.

♂, Ranong, Thailand.		♀, Ranong, Thailand.

ON : Zea martini Distant & Preyer, 1887
OD : Ann. Mag. nat. Hist. (5)19: 274-275.
TL : N.Borneo.

Distribution : Myanmar (Kayah State to Dawei), P.Thailand (south of Chumphon), Langkawi, W.Malaysia, Sumatra, Borneo.

Synonym

Acerbas nitidifasciata Elwes & Edwards, 1897; Trans. zool. Soc. Lond. 14(4): 216, pl.20. fig.9,♂; pl.24, fig.51; TL: 'Labuan; N. Borneo; Pulo Laut [Pulau Laut, S.Kalimantan]' [Labuan]. (NHML)

Records taken from Literature

[ THAILAND ]
Acerbas martini: Pinratana,1985 : 93, pl.32, figs.205,♂,♀,♀(Un). (Ranong)
Acerbas martini: Ek-Amnuay,[2007] : 818, pl.376, figs.H240,♂,♂(Un),♀(Un). (Ranong)
Acerbas martini: Kimura et al.,2011 : 90, figs.♂,♂(Un),♀,♀(Un). (Tenasserim; Kam Puan; Khlong Naka; Ka Chong; Than To WF.)
Acerbas martini: Ek-Amnuay,2012 : 878, pl.406, figs.H237,♂,♂(Un),♀(Un). (Ranong)
Cerba martini: Sophonviwatkul et al.,2024– : Butterflies of Thailand, figs. (Chumphon; Yala) (accessed: 2024.06.18)

Specimens Examined

[ THAILAND ]
Ranong : 6♂ 2♀.

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Yala : 1♂ 2♀ (incl. photo by S.Atdhabhan).

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Notes

The butterfly is locally not uncommon in lowland forests (30-400 m a.s.l.).
Cong et al. (2019) established the genus Cerba for this species based on external morphology and molecular analyses. Subsequently, Brower (2026) argued, based on molecular phylogenetic analyses, that this treatment was unnecessary and proposed transferring the species to the genus Zela. However, the external morphology including the male genitalia, wing pattern and androconial brand, differs markedly from that of species in Zela. Therefore, Cerba is retained here as the appropriate genus for this species.

Literature

Distant, W.L. & Pryer, W.B.,1887 : On the Rhopalocera of Northern Borneo. Part.II.
Ann. Mag. nat. Hist. (5)19: 264-275.

Elwes, H.J. & Edwards, J.,1897 : A Revision of the Oriental Hesperiidae.
Trans. zool. Soc. Lond. 14(4): 101-324, pls.18-27.

Evans, W.H.,1949 : A catalogue of the Hesperiidae from Europe, Asia and Australia in the British Museum (Natural History).
i-xix + 1-502, pls.1-35. London.

Cong, Q., Zhang, J., Shen, J. & Grishin, N.V.,2019 : Fifty new genera of Hesperiidae (Lepidoptera).
Insecta Mundi 0731: 1-56.

Brower, A.V.Z., 2026 : Monotypic genera: uninformative, but sometimes necessary.
Cladistics 42(4): 417-423. doi: 10.1111/cla.70043

2018.03.31 - 2026.08.31.