Family Hesperiidae - Skippers

Family HESPERIIDAE Latreille, 1809

Generally small, mostly orange or brown butterflies with short fat bodies, hooked antennae and rapid, skipping flight. Some species (chiefly Spreadwing Skippers, subfamily Pyrginae) hold their wings in a single flat plane, many others hold hind wings flat and forewings at an angle. A few small species (collectively often called "Skipperlings") do not have the antennae hooked at the tip, but otherwise look like typical Grass Skippers.

Caterpillars have a large head, easily distinguished from most other caterpillars by a constriction at the back. Individual caterpillars create shelters for themselves by folding over a piece of leaf or tying a couple of leaves together, and are not generally seen out in the open.

Some place this family in the superfamily Hesperioidea, rather than Papilionoidea.

Warren, A.D., J.R. Ogawa and A.V.Z. Brower. 2008. Phylogenetic relationships of subfamilies and circumscription of tribes in the family Hesperiidae (Lepidoptera: Hesperioidea). Cladistics 24, 1–35. (1)

Warren, A.D., J.R. Ogawa & A.V.Z. Brower. 2009. Revised classification of the family Hesperiidae (Lepidoptera: Hesperioidea) based on combined molecular and morphological data. Systematic Entomology 34(3): 467-523. (2)

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