Family Hesperiidae - Skippers

Classification · Explanation of Names · Identification · Remarks · Print References · Internet References · Works Cited

Wild Indigo (not Horace's) Duskywing - Erynnis baptisiae - female

Skipper in sand prairie - Polites egeremet

Show images of: caterpillars · adults · both

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)

Class Insecta (Insects)

Order Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths)

Superfamily Papilionoidea (Butterflies and Skippers)

Family Hesperiidae (Skippers)

Explanation of Names

Hesperiidae Latreille 1809

Identification

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.

Remarks

Some place this family in Hesperioidea rather than Papilionoidea

Print References

(1)(2)

Internet References

BOA • Idaho checklist

Works Cited

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

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

Contributed by Troy Bartlett on 16 February, 2004 - 12:32pm
Additional contributions by Hannah Nendick-Mason, Beatriz Moisset, Mike Quinn, David Ferguson, v belov
Last updated 20 October, 2023 - 7:38pm

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