The Common Dartlet (Oriens gola pseudolus)
A Common Dartlet perched on a blade of grass
A new year starts and we are already almost at the last day of the first month of 2026. Time waits for no one. Procrastinators will be left behind in the dust if opportunities are not grabbed quickly. All over Singapore, Lunar New Year decorations have already been put up, delicious seasonal goodies being sold and festive songs being played at shopping malls and other public venues, all waiting to herald the lunar new Year of the Fire Horse.
Globally, world powers are raising concerns about the overtures that the US has made towards Greenland. The US President has made it clear that he intends to acquire the world's largest island with a total of 2,166,000 square kilometres, by military force, if necessary. Also known as the "ice island", about 80% of Greenland is covered in ice. The US wants Greenland for its "geostrategic importance and sees the island as crucial to protect the US from Russia or China by having direct command of the Arctic approaches".
A quick check with ChatGPT shows that Greenland has only 5 regularly recorded butterfly species - one Pieridae, two Nymphalidae and two Lycaenidae, with a country checklist that records 8 species overall inclusive of the occasional migratory species. The climate is extremely cold with only a short summer hence only cold adapted species can survive there. Certainly not a preferred destination for butterfly watchers and enthusiasts!
Back in Singapore, January was an exceptionally windy month - far more windy than I can remember in recent years. The northern winds are still cold, lowering the average temperatures around the island. The north-easterly winds also brought a "burnt smell in the air" over a few days. The National Environment Agency reported that the potential haze could be due to peat fires burning in Johor and the smell carried over by the north-easterly winds. However, air quality remains in the good to moderate range, so there is no cause for alarm at the moment.
Our first feature butterfly for 2026 is the small and relatively common Hesperiidae, the Common Dartlet (Oriens gola pseudolus). It is one of two species from the genus Oriens that can be found in Singapore so far. The other one being the newly-discovered Malay Dartlet (Oriens paragola). The butterfly is a bright orange with an average wingspan of about 25mm. At various locations, it flies in the company of the other "Darts" from the Potanthus genus and can sometimes be mistaken for the other species that are more common.
Common Dartlet feeding on Bidens alba
The Common Dartlet is small and fast-flying like most species of the family Hesperiidae, and generally found in open sunlit areas, usually in the early morning hours. As the day heats up, if prefers to rest in shaded areas amongst the grassy patches. Its distribution in Singapore is quite widespread and it can be found in habitats ranging from urban parks and gardens as well as in the forested nature reserves.
The Common Dartlet is dark brown with yellowish orange post-discal bands on both fore- and hindwings. The forewing band stretches from the dorsum to almost touching the costa and is deeply excavate at vein 5. The eyes are solid and dark brown.
Common Dartlets feeding on flowers - top : Syzygium sp. bottom : Asystasia gangetica
On the underside, the wings are yellowish-orange with post-discal bands mirroring those on the upperside. The veins are barely dark-dusted across the orange-yellow markings. The hindwing bands are roughly bordered by varying degrees of black shading. The antennae are typical of Hesperiidae and ends with an apiculus at the tip.
A Common Dartlet puddling and using its own pee to extract the nutrients from the ground
The adults can be seen frolicking in sunlit areas and typically amongst grassy areas or low shrubs. They visit flowers for nectar and puddle on wet ground or even bird droppings for mineral intake. The caterpillars have been successfully bred on Ottochloa nodosa (Creeping Forest Grass) (Poaceae), Axonopus compressus (Cow Grass) (Poaceae), Centotheca lappacea (Sefa) (Poaceae).
Text by Khew SK : Photos by Alan Ang, David Chan, Federick Ho, Huang CJ, Khew SK, Loh MY, Richard Ong and Horace Tan.
