''Hesperia'', the branded skippers, is a
Holarctic
The Holarctic realm is a biogeographic realm that comprises the majority of habitats found throughout the continents in the Northern Hemisphere. It corresponds to the floristic Boreal Kingdom. It includes both the Nearctic zoogeographical reg ...
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...
in the
skippers (Hesperiidae)
butterfly
Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The group comprise ...
family. Most species are
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...
to North America, ''Hesperia comma'' is widespread throughout the region. ''H. florinda'' is endemic to temperate eastern Asia. ''H. nabokovi'' is endemic to Hispaniola.
Presumably,
Johan Christian Fabricius
Johan Christian Fabricius (7 January 1745 – 3 March 1808) was a Danish zoologist, specialising in "Insecta", which at that time included all arthropods: insects, arachnids, crustaceans and others. He was a student of Carl Linnaeus, and is co ...
named the genus for
Hesperia, one of the
Hesperides
In Greek mythology, the Hesperides (; , ) are the nymphs of evening and golden light of sunsets, who were the "Daughters of the Evening" or "Nymphs of the West". They were also called the Atlantides () from their reputed father, the Titan At ...
.
Species
The following
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
are recognised in the genus ''Hesperia'':
* ''
Hesperia assiniboia''
(Lyman, 1892) – Plains skipper
* ''
Hesperia attalus''
(W. H. Edwards, 1871) – dotted skipper – south United States
* ''
Hesperia caucasica''
Riabov, 1926 Caucasus
* ''
Hesperia colorado''
(Scudder, 1874) – western branded skipper
* ''
Hesperia columbia
''Hesperia columbia'', the Columbian skipper, is a species of grass skipper in the butterfly
Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies h ...
''
(Scudder, 1872) – Columbian skipper – California to Southwest Oregon
* ''
Hesperia comma
''Hesperia comma'', the silver-spotted skipper or common branded skipper, is a butterfly of the family Hesperiidae. It is known as silver-spotted skipper in Europe and common branded skipper in North America where the butterfly ''Epargyreus cla ...
''
(Linnaeus, 1758) – silver-spotted skipper or common branded skipper
* ''
Hesperia dacotae
''Hesperia dacotae'', the Dakota skipper, is a small to medium-sized North American butterfly. It has a wingspan of approximately one inch and the antennae form a hook. The male's wings are a tawny-orange to brown on the forewings with a prominen ...
''
(Skinner, 1911) – Dakota skipper
* ''
Hesperia florinda''
(Butler, 1878)
* ''
Hesperia juba''
(Scudder, 1872) – Juba skipper
* ''
Hesperia leonardus''
(Harris, 1862) – Leonard's skipper
* ''
Hesperia lindseyi''
(Holland, 1930) – Lindsey's skipper – Southwest Oregon, California, Southwest Arizona
* ''
Hesperia meskei''
W. H. Edwards, 1877 – Meke's skipper, Dixie skipper – Texas to Florida
* ''
Hesperia metea''
Scudder, 1863 – cobweb skipper
* ''
Hesperia miriamae''
MacNeill, 1959 – Sierra skipper – Inyo County, California
* ''
Hesperia nabokovi''
(Bell & Comstock, 1948) Hispaniola
* ''
Hesperia nevada''
(Scudder, 1874) – Nevada skipper
* ''
Hesperia ottoe
''Hesperia ottoe'', the Ottoe skipper, is a butterfly of the family Hesperiidae.
It is found in the central U.S. but has been recorded in Canada only in a small area of southern Manitoba.[Hesperia pahaska
''Hesperia pahaska'', the Pahaska skipper, is a butterfly of the family Hesperiidae.
It is found from North America in a narrow belt of states extending from Texas to North Dakota, just reaching Canada in southern Saskatchewan and Manitoba.] ''
Luessler, 1938 – Pahaska skipper
* ''
Hesperia sassacus
''Hesperia sassacus'', the Indian skipper, is a butterfly of the family Hesperiidae.
Taxonomy
The following subspecies are recognised:
*''Hesperia sassacus sassacus'' Harris, 1862
*''Hesperia sassacus manitoboides'' (Fletcher, 1889)
*''Hesperia s ...
''
Harris, 1862 – Indian skipper
* ''
Hesperia uncas''
W. H. Edwards, 1863 – Uncas skipper
* ''
Hesperia viridis''
(W. H. Edwards, 1883) – green skipper – Mexico, New Mexico
* ''
Hesperia woodgatei''
(R. C. Williams, 1914) – Apache skipper – Arizona, New Mexico, South Texas, North Mexico
Former species
Many species originally described in the genus ''Hesperia'' have now been reclassified. For a list of selected former species see
List of former species in the genus ''Hesperia''.
References and external links
*
Images representing ''Hesperia'' at
Consortium for the Barcode of Life
The Consortium for the Barcode of Life (CBOL) was an international initiative dedicated to supporting the development of DNA barcoding as a global standard for species identification. CBOL's Secretariat Office is hosted by the National Museum of ...
Systematic list of the butterflies of Norway
*Gatrelle R
A subspecific assessment of the genus Hesperi (Hesperiinae) in eastern north America (Part I: The south)
from Markku Savela's Lepidoptera site.
Lyman Entomological Museum and Research Laboratory
Specific
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hesperia (Butterfly)
Hesperiidae genera
Hesperiini