Skipper (butterfly)

Skipper Butterfly
Green Grass-Dart Skipper Butterfly, Ocybadistes walkeri
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Arthropoda Class: Insecta Order: Lepidoptera (unranked) Rhopalocera Superfamily: Hesperioidea Family: Hesperiidae Latreille, 1809
Diversity
About 550 genera, 3,500 species
Subfamilies
Coeliadinae Hesperiinae Heteropterinae Megathyminae (disputed) Pyrginae Pyrrhopyginae Trapezitinae

In zoology, skipper is the common name for any of the butterflies comprising the family Hesperiidae, characterized by antennae clubs hooked backward, stocky bodies, and typically quick, darting flight habits, which is the source of their name. They also differ from the true butterflies of the family Papilionoidea by generally having stronger wing muscles and better eyes. 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.

Overview and description

Skippers are considered a type of butterfly. The Order Lepidoptera commonly is separated into two groups, the butterflies and the moths. A lepidopteran generally is considered a butterfly if it belongs either to the superfamily Papilionoidea ("the true butterflies") or the superfamily Hesperioidea (“the skippers”), the latter of which has only one family, Hesperiidae. Some authors also would include as butterflies the members of the superfamily Hedyloidea ("the American butterfly moths"). Although the skippers are usually counted as butterflies, they are somewhat intermediate between the rest of the true butterflies and the remaining Lepidoptera, the moths.

Skippers differ in several important ways from the true butterflies. However, Hesperioidea and Papilionoidea are considered sister taxa, so the butterflies collectively are thought to constitute a natural group or true clade. Indeed, some modern taxonomists place them all in superfamily Papilionoidea, distinguishing the skippers from the other butterflies at the series level only. In this system, Papilionoidea consists of the series Hesperiiformes (with one family only, the skipper family Hesperiidae) and the series Papilioniformes (with five families). When skippers are classified in the superfamily Hesperioidea, it also includes the one family, the Hesperiidae. Hesperioidea, Papilionoidea, and Hedyloidea also are viewed by some taxonomists as constituting a clade.

Skippers differ in several important ways from the true butterflies of the superfamily Papilionoidea and members of 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, while 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, and have more well-developed eyes.

Classification

There are about 3500 species of skippers. 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.

Brower and Warren (2008)

Coeliadinae "Pyrginae" (including Pyrrhopyginae) Heteropterinae Trapezitinae Hesperiinae (including Megathyminae) A phylogeny of some subfamlies families based on DNA sequence data.

Skippers usually are classified into the following seven subfamilies (Brower and Wilson 2008):

• Subfamily Coeliadinae (Awls, awlets, and policemen), about 75 species
• Subfamily Hesperiinae (Grass skippers), over 2000 species
• Subfamily Heteropterinae (skipperlings), about 150 species
• Subfamily Megathyminae (Giant skippers), about 100 species
• Subfamily Pyrginae (Spread-winged skippers), about 1000 species)
• Subfamily Pyrrhopyginae (Firetips), about 150 species)
• Subfamily Trapezitinae (Australian skippers), about 60 species)

While some authorities treat the giant skippers as a separate family, the Megathymidae, a number of modern classifications place them within the subfamily Hesperiinae in the family Hesperiidae.

http://www.butterfliesofamerica.com/docs/warrenetal-Cladistics.pdf

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• 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.

http://tolweb.org/Hesperiidae/12028 Brower, Andrew V. Z. and Andrew Warren. 2008. Hesperiidae Latreille 1809. Skippers. Version 07 April 2008 (under construction). http://tolweb.org/Hesperiidae/12028/2008.04.07 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/

http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761582498/Skipper_(butterfly).html MSN Encarta

External links

• Nearctica North America (Index page)
• Skippers of North America: Large format diagnostic photographs Cirrus Digital Imaging
• Tree of Life Hesperiidae
• bean leafroller on the UF / IFAS Featured Creatures Web site
• Megathymus yuccae, yucca giant-skipper on the UF / IFAS Featured Creatures Web site
• Epargyreus clarus, silver-spotted skipper on the UF / IFAS Featured Creatures Web site
• Internet Archive Free downlad of Watson, E.Y. 1891 Hesperiidae Indicae : being a reprint of descriptions of the Hesperiidae of India, Burma, and Ceylon

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