Skipper (butterfly)

Taxobox
name = Skipper Butterfly

---

image_width = 250px
image_caption = Green Grass-Dart Skipper Butterfly, "Ocybadistes walkeri"
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Arthropoda
classis = Insecta
ordo = Lepidoptera
unranked_familia = Rhopalocera
superfamilia = Hesperioidea
familia = Hesperiidae
familia_authority = Latreille, 1809

diversity = About 550 genera,
3,500 species
diversity_link = List of hesperiid genera
subdivision_ranks = Subfamilies
subdivision =
Coeliadinae
Hesperiinae
Heteropterinae
Megathyminae (disputed)
Pyrginae
Pyrrhopyginae
Trapezitinae

A skipper is a butterfly of the family Hesperiidae (superfamily Hesperioidea), named after their quick, darting flight habits. There are more than 3500 recognized species of skippers and they occur worldwide,but with the greatest diversity occurring in the tropical regions of Central and South America.

Skippers differ in several important ways from the remaining butterflies, which are classified in the superfamily Papilionoidea and the neotropical superfamily Hedyloidea. Collectively, these three groups of butterflies share several characteristics especially in the egg, larval and pupal stage (Ackery et al. 1999). However, skippers have the antennae clubs hooked backward like a crochet hook, whilst butterflies have club-like tips to their antennae and hedylids have feathered or pectinate antennae giving them an even more moth-like appearance than skippers. Skippers also have generally stockier bodies than the other two groups, with stronger wing muscles. Hesperioidea is very likely the sister group of Papilionoidea, and together with Hedyloidea constitute a natural group or clade.

There are about 3500 species of Skippers. They are usually classified in the following subfamilies:
* Awls, Awlets and Policemen (Subfamily Coeliadinae, about 75 species)
* Grass Skippers (Subfamily Hesperiinae, over 2000 species)
* Skipperlings (Subfamily Heteropterinae, about 150 species)
* Giant Skippers (Subfamily Megathyminae, about 100 species)
* Spread-winged Skippers (Subfamily Pyrginae, about 1000 species)
* Firetips (Subfamily Pyrrhopyginae, about 150 species)
* Australian Skippers (Subfamily Trapezitinae, about 60 species)clade|style=font-size:75%;line-height:75%
label1=
1=clade
1=Coeliadinae
label2=
2=clade
1="Pyrginae" (including Pyrrhopyginae)
label2=
2=clade
1=Heteropterinae
label2=
2=clade
1=Trapezitinae
2=Hesperiinae (including Megathyminae) A phylogeny of the families based on DNA sequence data. [Warren A, Ogawa J, Brower A. (2008) Phylogenetic relationships of subfamilies and circumscription of tribes in the family Hesperiidae (Lepidoptera: Hesperioidea). Cladistics 24(5):642-676] Note: Some authorities treat the Giant Skippers as a separate family, the Megathymidae, but more modern classifications place them within the subfamily Hesperiinae in the family Hesperiidae.

Many species of skippers look frustratingly alike. For example, some species in the genera "Erynnis", "Hesperia", and "Amblyscirtes" cannot currently be distinguished in the field by experts, the only reliable method of telling them apart involving dissection and examination of the genitalia.

Notes

References

*Ackery, P.R., de Jong, R and Vane-Wright, R.I. (1999). The Butterflies: Hedyloidea, Hesperioidea and Papilionoidae. Pp. 263-300 in Kristensen, N.P. (Ed.). "Lepidoptera, Moths and Butterflies". Volume 1: Evolution, Systematics, and Biogeography. Handbuch der Zoologie. Eine Naturgeschichte der Stämme des Tierreiches / Handbook of Zoology. A Natural History of the phyla of the Animal Kingdom. Band / Volume IV Arthropoda: Insecta Teilband / Part 35: 491 pp. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin, New York.

External links

* [http://www.nearctica.com/butter/plates/mplate.htm Nearctica] North America (Index page)
* [http://www.cirrusimage.com/skipper_photos.htm Skippers of North America: Large format diagnostic photographs] Cirrus Digital Imaging
* [http://tolweb.org/Hesperiidae/12028 Tree of Life Hesperiidae]
* [http://creatures.ifas.ufl.edu/veg/bean/beanleaf.htm bean leafroller] on the UF / IFAS Featured Creatures Web site
* [http://creatures.ifas.ufl.edu/bfly/yucca_skipper.htm "Megathymus yuccae", yucca giant-skipper] on the UF / IFAS Featured Creatures Web site
* [http://creatures.ifas.ufl.edu/bfly/silver-spotted_skipper.htm "Epargyreus clarus", silver-spotted skipper] on the UF / IFAS Featured Creatures Web site
* [http://www.archive.org/details/hesperiidaeindic00watsrich Internet Archive] Free downlad of Watson, E.Y. 1891 "Hesperiidae Indicae : being a reprint of descriptions of the Hesperiidae of India, Burma, and Ceylon"