Skipper (butterfly)
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Skippers are a
family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...
of the
Lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) is an order (biology), order of insects that includes butterfly, butterflies and moths (both are called lepidopterans). About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera are described, in 126 Family (biology), families and 46 Taxonomic r ...
(moths and butterflies) named the Hesperiidae. Being diurnal, they are generally called butterflies. They were previously placed in a separate superfamily, Hesperioidea; however, the most recent taxonomy places the family in the superfamily
Papilionoidea The superfamily Papilionoidea (from the genus '' Papilio'', meaning "butterfly") contains all the butterflies except for the moth-like Hedyloidea. The members of the Papilionoidea may be distinguished by the following combination of character ...
, the butterflies. They are named for their quick, darting flight habits. Most have their antenna tips modified into narrow, hook-like projections. Moreover, skippers mostly have an absence of wing-coupling structure available in most moths. More than 3500 species of skippers are recognized, and they occur worldwide, but with the greatest diversity in the
Neotropical The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In bioge ...
regions of
Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...
and South America.Ackery et al. (1999)


Description and systematics

Traditionally, the Hesperiidae were placed in a
monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...
superfamily Hesperioidea, because they are morphologically distinct from other
Rhopalocera 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 comprises ...
(butterflies), which mostly belong to the typical butterfly superfamily
Papilionoidea The superfamily Papilionoidea (from the genus '' Papilio'', meaning "butterfly") contains all the butterflies except for the moth-like Hedyloidea. The members of the Papilionoidea may be distinguished by the following combination of character ...
. The third and rather small butterfly superfamily is the
moth-butterflies Hedylidae, the "American moth-butterflies", is a family of insects in the order Lepidoptera, representing the superfamily Hedyloidea. They have traditionally been viewed as an extant sister group of the butterfly superfamily Papilionoidea. In ...
(Hedyloidea), which are restricted to the Neotropics, but recent
phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups o ...
analyses suggest the traditional Papilionoidea are
paraphyletic In taxonomy (general), taxonomy, a group is paraphyletic if it consists of the group's most recent common ancestor, last common ancestor and most of its descendants, excluding a few Monophyly, monophyletic subgroups. The group is said to be pa ...
, thus the subfamilies should be reorganised to reflect true
cladistic Cladistics (; ) is an approach to biological classification in which organisms are categorized in groups ("clades") based on hypotheses of most recent common ancestry. The evidence for hypothesized relationships is typically shared derived char ...
relationships.Heikkilä et al. (2012)Kawahara & Breinholt (2014) Collectively, these three groups of butterflies share many characteristics, especially in the
egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the a ...
,
larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. ...
l, and
pupa A pupa ( la, pupa, "doll"; plural: ''pupae'') is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in thei ...
l stages. Nevertheless, skippers have the
antenna Antenna ( antennas or antennae) may refer to: Science and engineering * Antenna (radio), also known as an aerial, a transducer designed to transmit or receive electromagnetic (e.g., TV or radio) waves * Antennae Galaxies, the name of two collid ...
e clubs hooked backward like a
crochet hook A crochet hook (or crochet needle) is an implement used to make loops in thread or yarn and to interlock them into crochet stitches. It is a round shaft pointed on one end, with a lateral groove behind it. The point eases the insertion of the hook ...
, while the typical butterflies have club-like tips to their antennae, and moth-butterflies have feathered or pectinate (comb-shaped) antennae similar to
moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...
s. Skippers also have generally stockier bodies and larger
compound eye A compound eye is a visual organ found in arthropods such as insects and crustaceans. It may consist of thousands of ommatidia, which are tiny independent photoreception units that consist of a cornea, lens, and photoreceptor cells which disti ...
s than the other two groups, with stronger wing muscles in the plump
thorax The thorax or chest is a part of the anatomy of humans, mammals, and other tetrapod animals located between the neck and the abdomen. In insects, crustaceans, and the extinct trilobites, the thorax is one of the three main divisions of the cre ...
, in this resembling many moths more than the other two butterfly lineages do. Unlike, for example, the
Arctiinae The Arctiinae (formerly called the family Arctiidae) are a large and diverse subfamily of moths with around 11,000 species found all over the world, including 6,000 neotropical species.Scoble, MJ. (1995). ''The Lepidoptera: Form, Function and D ...
, though, their wings are usually small in proportion to their bodies. Some have larger wings, but only rarely as large in proportion to the body as in other butterflies. When at rest, skippers keep their wings usually angled upwards or spread out, and only rarely fold them up completely. The wings are usually well-rounded with more or less sharply tipped forewings. Some have prominent hindwing tails, and others have more angled wings; the skippers' basic wing shapes vary not much by comparison to the Papilionoidea, though. Most have a fairly drab coloration of browns and greys; some are more boldly black-and-white. Yellow, red, and blue hues are less often found, but some largely brown species are quite richly colored, too. Green colors and metallic iridescence are generally absent.
Sexual dichromatism Sexual dimorphism is the condition where the sexes of the same animal and/or plant species exhibit different morphological characteristics, particularly characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most ani ...
is present in some; males may have a blackish streak or patch of
scent scale The external morphology of Lepidoptera is the morphology (biology), physiological structure of the bodies of insects belonging to the order Lepidoptera, also known as butterfly, butterflies and moths. Lepidoptera are distinguished f ...
s on their forewings. Many species of skippers look very alike. For example, some species in the genera '' Amblyscirtes'', ''
Erynnis ''Erynnis'' is a genus in the skippers butterfly family Hesperiidae, known as the duskywings. ''Erynnis'' is found in the Neotropical realm and across the Palearctic, but the highest species diversity is in the Nearctic. The genus was erected by ...
'' (duskywings), and '' Hesperia'' (branded skippers) cannot currently be distinguished in the field even by experts. The only reliable method of telling them apart involves dissection and
microscopic The microscopic scale () is the scale of objects and events smaller than those that can easily be seen by the naked eye, requiring a lens or microscope to see them clearly. In physics, the microscopic scale is sometimes regarded as the scale be ...
examination of the
genitalia A sex organ (or reproductive organ) is any part of an animal or plant that is involved in sexual reproduction. The reproductive organs together constitute the reproductive system. In animals, the testis in the male, and the ovary in the female, a ...
, which have characteristic structures that prevent mating except between
conspecific Biological specificity is the tendency of a characteristic such as a behavior or a biochemical variation to occur in a particular species. Biochemist Linus Pauling stated that "Biological specificity is the set of characteristics of living organis ...
s.


Subfamilies

The roughly 3500 species of skippers are now classified in these subfamilies:Brower & Warren (2008) *
Coeliadinae Coeliadinae is a subfamily of the skipper butterfly family (Hesperiidae). With about 150 described species, this is one of several smallish skipper butterfly subfamilies. It was first proposed by William Frederick Evans in 1937.Brower & Warren ( ...
– awls, awlets, and policemen (about 75 species) * Euschemoninae – regent skipper (
monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...
) *
Eudaminae The Eudaminae are a subfamily of skipper butterflies (family Hesperiidae). Their original type genus ''Eudamus'' is today a junior synonym of ''Urbanus''. They are largely found in the Neotropics, with some extending into temperate North Ameri ...
– dicot skippers * Pyrginae – spread-winged skippers and firetips (including Pyrrhopyginae) * Heteropterinae – skipperlings (about 150 species) *
Hesperiinae Grass skippers or banded skippers are butterflies of the subfamily Hesperiinae, part of the skipper family, Hesperiidae. The subfamily was established by Pierre André Latreille in 1809. Description and distribution With over 2,000 described sp ...
– grass skippers (over 2000 species) * Megathyminae – giant skippers (about 18 species; doubtfully distinct from Hesperiinae) * Trapezitinae – Australian skippers (about 60 species)


References

* Ackery, P. R.; de Jong, R. & Vane-Wright, R. I. (1999). "The Butterflies: Hedyloidea, Hesperioidea and Papilionoidae". In: Kristensen, N. P. (ed.): ''Handbook of Zoology: A Natural History of the Phyla of the Animal Kingdom. Volume IV Arthropoda: Insecta, Part 35: Lepidoptera, Moths and Butterflies Vol.1: Evolution, Systematics, and Biogeography'': 263–300. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin, New York. * Brower, Andrew V. Z. & Warren, Andrew (April 7, 2008)
"Hesperiidae"
''
Tree of Life Web Project The Tree of Life Web Project is an Internet project providing information about the diversity and phylogeny of life on Earth. This collaborative peer reviewed project began in 1995, and is written by biologists from around the world. The site ...
''. Retrieved December 24, 2009. * Brower, Andrew V. Z. & Warren, Andrew (2006)
"The higher classification of the Hesperiidae (Lepidoptera: Hesperioidea)"
Retrieved October 26, 2012. * Evans, W. H. (1951). "A Catalogue of the Hesperiidae indicating the classification and nomenclature adopted in the British Museum (Natural History). Part I. '' Pyrrhophyginae''". London, British Museum. 92 pp. + p15. 1–9. * Evans, W. H. (1952). "A Catalogue of the '' Hesperiidae'' indicating the classification and nomenclature adopted in the British Museum (Natural History). Part II. '' Pyrginae''. Section I". London, British Museum. 178 pp. + pls. 10–25. * Evans, W. H. (1953). "A Catalogue of the '' Hesperiidae'' indicating the classification and nomenclature adopted in the British Museum (Natural History). Part III. '' Pyrginae''. Section II". London, British Museum. 246 pp. + pls. 26–53. * Evans, W. H. (1955). "A Catalogue of the '' Hesperiidae'' indicating the classification and nomenclature adopted in the British Museum (Natural History). Part IV. ''
Hesperiinae Grass skippers or banded skippers are butterflies of the subfamily Hesperiinae, part of the skipper family, Hesperiidae. The subfamily was established by Pierre André Latreille in 1809. Description and distribution With over 2,000 described sp ...
'' and '' Megathyminae''". London, British Museum. 499 pp. + pls. 54–88. * Heikkilä, M.; Kaila, L.; Mutanen, M.; Peña, C. & Wahlberg, N. (2012). "Cretaceous origin and repeated tertiary diversification of the redefined butterflies". ''Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences''. 279(1731), 1093–1099. * Kawahara, A. Y., & Breinholt, J. W. (2014). "Phylogenomics provides strong evidence for relationships of butterflies and moths". ''Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences''. 281 (1788), 20140970. * Korolev, Vladimir A. (2014)
"Catalogus on the collection of ''Lepidoptera''. Part I. ''Hesperiidae''"
Moscow, 310 p.


Further reading

* Glassberg, Jeffrey ''Butterflies through Binoculars, The West'' (2001) * Guppy, Crispin S. and Shepard, Jon H. ''Butterflies of British Columbia'' (2001) * James, David G. and Nunnallee, David ''Life Histories of Cascadia Butterflies'' (2011) * Pelham, Jonathan ''Catalogue of the Butterflies of the United States and Canada'' (2008) * Pyle, Robert Michael ''The Butterflies of Cascadia'' (2002)


External links

*

North America (Index page)

Cirrus Digital Imaging
Internet Archive
Free download of Watson, E.Y. 1891 ''Hesperiidae Indicae: Being a reprint of descriptions of the Hesperiidae of India, Burma, and Ceylon'' {{Authority control Butterfly families Papilionoidea