This skipper was photographed in a city park in North Delhi. When disturbed it would zip off but often cycle back to nearly the same spot.
I thank Krushnamegh Kunte for pointing out the following:
This individual is a male, as indicated by the grey patch on the black
band on the forewing UP (a "brand").
A very similar species is the Dark Palm Dart (T. ancilla). The brand in the Pale Palm Dart is narrow and closer to the inner edge of the black band. In the Dark Palm
Dart, the brand is wide and placed centrally on the black band, being wide on
top and narrowing at the bottom.
Another distinguishing feature is that on the forewings of the Pale Palm Dart the orange colour extends along the veins to the wing margin. However, this feature has to be used with caution, as some Dark Palm Darts also have the orange extending a bit. Thus, females could be hard to separate.
