The butterfly, which has a wingspan of 45 to 55 mm, is dark brown and unmarked above; and resembles the common banded awl (Hasora chromus), except that it has a broad white band on the under hindwing which is sharply defined. The female white banded awl has small spots on the upper forewing while the male has no brand above.[8][9]
Detailed description
Edward Yerbury Watson (1891) gives detailed descriptions of H. t. malayana (C. & R. Felder, 1860), shown below:[10]
Alls supra fuscis, subtus anticarum limbo costali, posticarum dimidio basali chalybaeis, his striga discali alba.
— (Felder, I. c.)
The females have a small semi-transparent yellowish discal speck between the two posterior branches of the median vein, and of course lack the oblique band of short lines of modified scales seen in the males of this as well as of the preceding closely-allied species." (Wood-Mason and de Niceville, J. A. S. B., 1881, p. 254.)
The above refers to Andaman females only, as in the Nicobar females the small semi-transparent yellow discal speck between the two posterior branches of the median vein is wanting according to Messrs. Wood-Mason and de Niceville.
Recorded from the Andamans and Nicobars.
Note: As H. t. malayana is sympatric with another subspecies, H. t. bhavara Fruhstorfer, 1911 in part of its range it has now been given specific status.
Beccaloni, George; Scoble, Malcolm; Kitching, Ian; Simonsen, Thomas; Robinson, Gaden; Pitkin, Brian; Hine, Adrian; Lyal, Chris. "The Global Lepidoptera Names Index (LepIndex)". Natural History Museum, London. Retrieved 2016-10-15.
Brower, Andrew V. Z., (2007). Hasora Moore 1881. Version 21 February 2007 (under construction). Page on genus Hasora in The Tree of Life Web Project http://tolweb.org/.